Miraculous Adventures of Ladybug and Chat Noir Magic Awakening
by BardofWorlds
Summary: Old secrets have a way of getting out, even those not known. When the Guardians secrets start to show up in Paris as Hawkmoth gains power and other threats appear, how will our heroes survive and save their homes and friends, all while Lila gathers power for her true objective, who will still be standing at the end of it all? Book A of Mana Awakening
1. 01 What is Out There in the Darkness?

LONGEST. CHAPTER. EVER. Sorry its about three weeks later but you can't rush perfection! And this is but the last of the first chapters of the three parallel stories project I'm writing! And this kicks off in season 3, with a few differences in the previous season[Chloe made peace with Marinette, keeps her Miraculous and it's a different shape and weapon] This is two weeks after Chamalion so enjoy and I'll try and have the next chapter for this out before the months done and read the other two stories Kaijdo; Assault of the Mana and The Deep, Mana of the Past on my profile!

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A man in a rubber boots and a rubber jacket with a powerful flashlight moved through a darkned tunnel and looked about, a frown on his face as he did so. He looked about and sighed as he passed the beam of his flashlight around in front of him. As he moved he cursed the face that he had drawn the short straw this evening for the 'victim search'. _Out of all the guys who could be stuck with this it has to be me who got the short straw for the search. And damn him for getting the easy part of the system to go over, of course I had to go check the entrances to the closed section today of all days! _ He thought as he cursed the game of chance that gave him his current job.

"With everything that's been happening in this city lately you would think they would be okay with spending a little money to make it easier to communicate or tell who's down here but noooo! They decided to send down a disposable body down here to make sure everyone got out okay after the last Akuma attack, and it's my turn. If I ever find out who that Hawkmoth is I'll kill'em." He muttered as he moved through the tunnels and stopped at an open doorway. He reached into a pocket and brought out a piece of paper that he unfolded to reveal a map and started to trace the path he had taken. After a few seconds he looked back to the door with a frown as he realized where he was.

"Wasn't this door supposed to be closed? Some fool probably ran in here when the Akuma siren came on to find a quiet place to get their shit together. God help me why does that thing have to echo so loud down here, it already caused a few guys to lose their hearing for a few days. Glad the boss dropped the whole 'charge people for illegal accesses' in connection to that thing after experiencing it down here." He muttered as he approached the door.

He walked through the door and moved the beam from his light around the room, noticing three of the four walls had archways here and frowned when he noticed one of them had a giant spider web across it. He frowned and looked around the room and moved the beam along the floor, frowning as he did so. _Okay the floor looks like someone did come through here but those webs are really way too big. I know there weren't ever an Akuma down here and when that one flooded most of the city we had a devil of a time cleaning up. But it did help the rat and bug problem. But where did this time from?_ He thought as he moved towards the web and pushed it with a screwdriver he took from his jacket and frowned when he tried to get it off but couldn't pull it away from the web. He stepped back before he looked at it and was shocked that his screwdriver stayed in the air when he released it.

"What in the…how the heck is this stuff so strong, and where did the thing who made it come from? This is almost as bad as one of those….Down here, who when, not that's not possible." He said as he grabbed the screwdriver and finally pulled it form the web.

As he looked at the web falling apart he turned when he heard the sounds of a lot of things moving from the darkness of the other two archways and turned and ran towards the door, grabbing the handle when a line of silk hit his jacket and pulled him towards the darkness he held onto door until other lines grabbed him and pulled him into the darkness, dropping his flashlight and screaming as he flew through the air until the sounds of his screams died abruptly. The room was silent as the flashlight cast its beam as it rolled, the only other light the open door until from the darkness lines of silk hit the door and pushed it closed as the sounds of a low chuckling filled the room.

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A girl ran along the sidewalk of Paris, she had bluebell eyes and medium-length black hair in two pigtails with red hair ties. She wore a dark gray blazer with rolled up sleeves over a white t-shirt and rolled up pink pants with light pink ballet shoes on her feet, a light pink purse hanging from her right shoulder. As she dodged the other people some of them noticed she had a frown on her face. _I can't believe that Lila's lies are being believed by everyone so easily, I mean really! And if she thinks that she can turn everyone against me then I'll prove her wrong and at least Adrian knows she's lying, but I'd bet that his father's behind 'let her lies break her' approach he suggested we do. But why the heck does she have against me, she's been Volpina twice and she might have gone over to Hawkmoth's side if I'm right about her. Maybe I should talk to Master Fu about this; he might have some advice beside the breathing exercises he taught me._ Marinette thought as she reached moved along the sidewalk. She stopped when she noticed a building that had been undergoing renovations since she had gained her earrings was finally ready and noticed a sign was being raised to the top of the three story structure.

"At least that place is finished, now if they could get it all done without something happening to call Hawkemoth, then that would be just perfect." Marinette spoke to herself as she looked at what was being done.

"Yes, the way that scum seems to help push people over the edge is something to be worried about with projects like this." An old but strong sounding voice said causing Marinette to spin around and blush when she realized someone had overheard her. The person was an elderly man with white skin wearing a black suit with a gray beard under black eyes with a bald head. He was standing next to a boy her age with short black hair in a wolf tail wearing a black semi-formal shirt and pants. He had a bored look on his face and his eyes seemed to look through her as she wasn't even there or he had hoped she would be somewhere else.

"My apologies for overhearing what I was sure was just an out loud thought, but the chance to talk with someone who lives through the scums action day by day is a treat I haven't had much outside our honorable mayor." The man said as the teen next to him scoffed.

"Grandfather, must you talk up anyone who strikes your fancy? My apologies for not stopping him miss, but well you can't teach an old dog not to speak. I pray that you never have to handle family as difficult as mine." The teen said as the older man looked at him with an exasperated look on his face.

"Now Galen this is why I argued against homeschooling you, you don't learn how to talk to people! But given what time it is I believe you should head on to your school miss, and do have a nice day." The elder said as he looked at his watch. Marinette looked at her own watch and stammering a goodbye, she bowed to them before running off.

Galen watched her go for a few seconds before his eyes gained a thoughtful look as he watched her go and spoke softly to his grandfather.

"To run into a natural our first day here, amazing don't you think?" Galen asked as his eyes never left her. His grandfather chuckled darkly and smiled serenely.

"Perhaps, but even if she wasn't she looks like a good prospect for your Lady don't you say, a mistress at the very least." He said with a dark edge to his voice as he watched Marinette run towards the building in the distance.

"I will have to make sure I'm in her class then, but I have to first find out her name before anything else grandfather. But now when will we be ready to move into our new home?" Galen asked as he looked up at the building, smiling when the sign set against the building with the covering still on it.

"Oh today or tomorrow, and with all the chaos that was kept in this city, I can't wait to see what we can harvest from there." He said as he looked downwards. Galen smirked as he looked down as well and gained a thoughtful look.

"There's a tour leaving in a few hours, I think I'll shadow it and see what they could bring back, is the doorway finished on our end?" Galan asked as he looked at the building. His grandfather merely scoffed and handed him a satchel, his grandson slipping in onto his shoulder without a word, the familiar weight of the prepared charms in it brought a smile onto his face as he looked forward to his work.

"Remember to leave them when no one can see you, and don't drop them into the water, the splash would alert anyone you're with. And the armor should be here by nightfall." His grandfather said causing Galen to smirk as he looked up at the sun and smiled, waiting for the blessings of the moon to shower Paris in the night, when a new 'superhero' would appear. _Well more like a new antihero. I wonder if my counterparts will join the game, but of course once I discover the truth about him, we will raise New Camelot._ Galen thought as he clenched his fist, he was so lost in his thoughts that he never noticed his grandfather sigh and turn away from him.

His grandfather merely looked after Marinette and frowned, something about that girl had hit a chord in him, he didn't know but he had a strange feeling, something about her woke up some old memories that he thought he had buried long ago. _What was it about that girl that made me think about that, why did I say she might be a good lady for my grandson; she's only a natural at best who doesn't know about anything. Ahhh Paris, are some of my old failures clouding my mind? _He thought as he stared into space, his grandson lost in thought as the two of them stood there.

Marinette ran, cursing herself for letting those two take her attention as she reached school and moved towards her class room. She slipped into the class's back entrance and saw Lila holding court as she talked about something her aunt took her to and wondered what was true and what lies were spun form truth. She moved to the back row and saw that Chloe was there and nodded at her before motioning her close.

"Almost late Marri, what oversleep again?" Chloe asked with a mischievous tone to her voice as she flicked her hair smiled at her as the light reflected off her black hairpin, causing Marinette to smile at her _friend_. _Out of everything that could happen in the last two weeks I never thought that I would become friends with Chloe and Sabrina, or that for all it seems that Chloe takes advantage of Sabrina the two of them actually take advantage of each other. With how Chloe helps her with history and Sabrina helps with math. And who knew that Chloe had Dysgraphia, and that's why that Sabrina writes down their homework or that despite it all she's actually a writer._ Marinette thought as she looked at her friend with a smile.

"No, that construction on Rue Saint Dominique is almost finished and I think I talked to the owners. And where's Sabrina, she's usually here with you by now." Marinette said as Chloe perked up at that.

"You meet the Umbrerege? Daddy said that that we'd be guests at the grand opening the new restaurant once the construction was finished, and he was very excited about it, not as the mayor but as well you know. And Sabrina won't be here today, something about a family thing to handle with her mother." Chloe said as she looked at Marinette who nodded at her while inside she frowned. Learning about how the 'honorable' mayor really treated Chloe was eye opening, and that her parents knew Chloe's parents from college, a few remarks about a class pet and the way their faces looked like they were sick, it explained so much about Chloe's old behavior. That and how much time she was spending at the Bakery, her parents had all but adopted her at this point and were all growing closer, Chloe had even confided in her that her _act _with Adrien was more to keep the gold-diggers away from the both of them, a few remarks about how some people had looked at her over the years and…. Marinette just shook the thoughts from her head and looked down at Alya and Nino who seemed to be on the edge of their seats and frowned; she still couldn't explain that. Chloe saw the look and followed Marinette's eyes and frowned herself.

"I know what I said before but there is no way this isn't like Hero Day right? Because I refuse to accept that those two are _that_ guidable." Chloe declared softly only for Marinette to give a short grunt. Sabrina had mentioned the way the others seemed to believe Lila was like an Akuma power, and Chloe had joked about how could Hawkmoth created more than one at a time and Sabrina brought up Hero Day, which for a few seconds caused the girls to shudder and have a cold shiver to go down Marinette's spine. Thankfully after the next Akuma wasn't red the three of them had decided that they were mostly jumping at ghosts. As Marinette sat down the aroma of Lila's perfume whiffed up and once again she forced down the bile that smell always brought about. Chloe meanwhile held her noise and stared down at Lila with a scowl and a hard spark in her eyes. _I don't know why but something about that stench that Lila likes makes me want to puke and something about it just bothers me! And both Marinette and Sabrina seem to have the same allergy to it and Sabrina loves flowers! Maybe I should talk to Pollen about this, she loves flowers and maybe she would know about allergies or what could be causing this._ Chloe thought as she looked down at the object of her anger. Looking down she watched Lila as she just talked on with a laugh that caused the others around her to join in, Lila's eyes however saw Chloe look down at her and Lila kept talking, not letting on any sigh that she noticed Chloe watching her.

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Adrien sighed as he got out of the limo and walked towards the front of it before knocking on the window his bodyguard, the Gorilla opened it and looked at him.

"Remember I've got that field trip at the end of the day for history, so to make the photo-shoot you'd better pick me up at the Arc; that is if an Akuma doesn't happen." Adrien said as his bodyguard nodded and grunted gesturing at the school before pointing at himself. Adrien smirked and shook his head and smiled with an exasperated look on his face.

"Big guy its fine. We'll just be going underground and be let out once we're done; the exits are near enough to the Arc for me to get there on time if I walk, if you want I can see if any of my friends are heading that way. So go, hope you have a nice day and I'll see you once school's out." Adrien said with a smile as Gorilla just sighed before smiling back and nodded his head before Adrien moved away and the limo drove off.

"You know I think it's good that you're getting along better with him kit, he seems to be on your side now." A voice said from Adrien's vest as he walked into the building. Adrien only smirked at Plagg's comment and nodded. Ever since Heroes Day and his second Akumatized his bodyguard had been, well more understanding about what Adrien wanted. But he understood why Gorilla always tried to keep Adrien back, he had 'told' Adrien that he personally felt that his father's heavy handedness with his safety wasn't because he was a control freak but he was scared about losing him like his mother, something about how she was very impulsive and his father probably felt a structured lifestyle would keep his son safe. _Looking back I guess he decided to error on the side of caution but dad is not someone who knows the meaning of restraint, and I do love him but I want to understand him better, I want him back the way he was when mother was home._ Adrien thought as a frown grew on his face.

"Yeah Plagg I like it too, he's been great lately! And I think I'm starting to understand my dad a little." Adrien said as he moved through the hallways towards his class. Plagg remained silent and sat in Adrien's pocket and let his thoughts run wild. _Yeah kitten it is good that your relationship is getting better but he's active, the chances of him being Hawkmoth are a lot more then I like. But the time he was Akumatized_,_ I can't even think about how that would be possible. Still the chance that he's just a natural is there and that could explain how strong he was as an Akuma. But fashion girl turned out to be Tikki's girl and I just thought she was a natural too!_ Plagg thought as he just sat in the pocket and tried to banish his thoughts. Adrien turned a corner and stopped short, almost colliding with Miss Bustier as she walked from the other direction.

"Oh, good morning Adrien." She said as she caught herself and frowned as a few papers she was carrying fell to the floor. Adrien reached down and picked them up before handing them to her.

"Good Morning Miss Bustier, everything okay?" He asked as he watched his teacher look over the papers before looking up. She smiled at him and gestured for him to follow her.

"No, everything is fine, just going over the last minute preparations for the trip. With how crazy Paris has been lately the board was still dragging its feet on the trip, even thought to cancel it at the last minute." Miss Bustier said as she started to walk off, Adrien falling into step behind her.

"I can kinda understand, I can remember how destructive a lot of them were. And I know all about liability from my modeling career." Adrien said as Miss Bustier winced. She knew all about that kettle of fish and when someone had asked a question about that during a meeting the school board had almost canceled the trip.

"Well let's just say the principle has a way with words and thankfully one of the board members was able to talk the others down." She said as she blushed, remembering how the people in that meeting had acted. _I don't think I'll ever look at him the same, he really tried to get them not to stop the trip and he was on a roll once he got started. _Miss Bustier thought as she led the way towards her classroom.

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"So anyway Lila, this is going to be great, a field trip our last class of the day and then we can leave early." Mylène said as she looked at the doorway.

"Yeah, and where we'd be let out means we can spend a bit more time out before heading home." Ivan said as he looked at Mylène and thought of a restaurant he wanted to take her to. Kim merely scoffed at this comment and smirked arrogantly when the others looked at him.

"Oh come on guys, this is just another one of the mayor's campaign promises. The whole point of this trip to the catacombs are to 'look and feel the weight of history', part of the Mayor's education reforms. But I can't blame him for pushing it; it did help him get elected before, well the Hawkmoth mess." Kim said as Alix grinned as she looked smug before.

"But given when and where we'll be let out at the end of it, who cares really? It'll be great to get some more running in after school." Alix said with a smirk on her face as Rose just shook her head.

"You can't train for your next race all the time Alex, you have to let your body rest after a while, you can over work it and get hurt badly!" Rose said as Alix rubbed the back of her head before Lila cut in.

"Really so we're going underground? That reminds me when the white water rafting group I was with a few summers ago accidently ended up lost underground for a few hours, luckily I was able to use my nose to smell the blooming flowers and lead the way outside." Lila said as she smirked. _So the others believing me, but that paparazzi_ _and the punk rapper are on the edge. And then there's Chloe and Marinette, they don't seem to buy my stories. But like I told Marinette; they're either with me or against me, and they will stand all alone when I'm done._ Lila thought as Adrien and Miss Bustier entered the room. Lila looked up as Adrien said his hellos and sat down next to her as the others moved to their own seats and smirked when she felt the glaze of Marinette and Chloe from behind her, smirking a little more. She never noticed that Juleka was looking at her with hard eyes, never noticed the way Juleka was looking at her, or how when Lila looked at Rose her arms tensed.

"Quite down everyone, I know you're all excited about what's happening at the end of the day but I have an announcement to make. Do to the fact that your regular history teacher isn't here today, I will be filling in as your chaperon." Miss Bustier said as the students looked at each other and some of them seemed to have something to say before Miss Bustier continued.

"Now don't worry, he hasn't quite or had a break down like the Guidance counselor, a relative of his is going through a, well a personal dilemma that he need a leave of absence to help deal with. He should be back sometime next week and everything should be back to normal. Now let us begin, you might be leaving early but let's see just how much we can accomplish." Miss Bustier said as she turned to her chalkboard and began the day's lessons.

Juleka only listened to Miss Bustier absentmindedly and tried to keep her temper under control as she looked down at Lila and kept her face blank. _That perfume, it's just like what __**she**__ used on me. I can't believe it took me a week for me to notice it. If dad was still around he'd say I needed more training. I need to talk to my brother; he'd know if she was one of them. And then there's Rose, I can't leave her, but I can't do anything before I talk to him about it, just have to stay on guard and make sure no one goes anywhere alone with Lila, if she tries what that whore tried to do with me I'll kill her with my partner._ Juleka thought as she looked at Rose from the corner of her eyes, smiling slightly when she saw Rose was paying all her attention to her notes, not looking at Lila like someone to worship.

Later during lunch Marinette watched as Lila talked about 'something' that happened to her while she was 'traveling' and just looked down at her food in disgust at the fact that the others were buying her tall tales so easily. Chloe looked up from her phone and started to mutter insults under her breath as Marinette looked up at her before glancing down at her phone and saw the Ladyblog opened to the Akuma section.

"Still trying to prove that Lila has support from Hawkmoth to account for how she's doing that Chloe?" Marinette asked as Chloe looked up with a scowl on her face.

"Just think about what Rose was able to do when she was under his control, but I don't know if she was out of sight during the massive attack to have done anything that could have helped Lila and why would he have Rose do that for her anyway, and could she have been able to us it? It doesn't track for how Hawkmoth operates." Chloe said as she bit into her sandwich and Marinette just sighed before she looked up at Chloe, a hint of surprise in her face as she understood what Chloe wasn't saying.

"You think the perfume she's using might have something to do with it?" Marinette said in shock as Chloe looked away from her before speaking.

"There's something about it, I don't like it at all and it makes me want to throw up whenever I get a riff of it. I thought a few of Rose's failed products were bad but this, I can't even describe it. Don't ask me why, I have no idea but everything about it is telling me it's important!" Chloe said as she looked away from Marinette. _Sorry Mari but I can't tell anyone I'm Queen Bee. I studied enough about superheroes for my novel to know how bad an idea it is for anyone to learn my secret identify besides Chat Noir for giving me the chance to atone!_ Chloe thought as Marinette looked at her. _Rose's Akuma form could use scents to control people, it isn't too far out there to think it's possible but where could Lila have gotten something like that? _Marinette thought as she ate her food as she tried to wrap her head around Chloe's idea, but before she could gather her thoughts.

"Hey girls, how are you, you both ready for the field trip later today?" Adrien asked as he sat down and started to eat his own meal as Chloe looked at the amount of food he had and scoffed. _Adrien is still growing like the rest of us, so what he might gain a pound here or there, muscles need more energy than fat and I'm surprised he hasn't passed out yet._ Chloe thought as she looked at what Adrien's father had sent for his lunch.

"I've said it before I've said it again, your father should let you eat more!" Chloe said as she looked at Adrien with a small glare that caused him to hold up his hands.

"Yeah I know sis I know. And on the dad front the two of us are starting to fix our relationship, you were right he's just over protective. So what were you and Marinette talking about before I came over?" Adrien asked as Chloe looked conflicted for a few seconds before Marinette spoke up before Chloe could come up with a lie.

"Just about the fact that the construction over on Rue Saint Dominique is finished, I might have met the owners and the fact that it's supposed to be a restaurant." Marinette said as Chloe relaxed. Adrien shot them a look that told Marinette that he didn't fully believe her but wasn't going to call her on it. As he closed his eyes to savoir his lunch he never noticed Chloe send a thankful look at Marinette who nodded back at her before Chloe turned to Adrien.

"You know after everything that's happened around here I would have thought that he wouldn't have agreed with you to come along on the trip." Chloe commented as Adrien perked up.

"Actually it seems that mom and dad met in the catacombs. He said something about her killing time and him looking for inspiration for a horror collection for an assignment." Adrien said as the two girls looked at him for a few seconds before Chloe looked thoughtful before she nodded.

"I think my mom reviewed that show for her school paper, something about a monster theme fashion show right?" Chloe asked only for Adrien to shrug in return.

"He never mentioned what it was, but getting my dad to talk about mom…." Adrien trailed off and Chloe looked sorrowful as Marinette only looked on and smiled as she watched the byplay of her friends._ If Alya and Nino were here with Sabrina, this would be perfect. Don't let it bother you Marinette, Chloe might be right and there could be something helping Lila make everyone believe her. The way Lila become Volpina to help that attack, I don't know if she's gone over to his side or it's just how she is. _Marinettethought as she began to converse with her friends. Chloe looked at Marinette as her emotions played over her face and misunderstood why.

"Don't worry Marinette, Ladybug, Chat Noir and Queen Bee dealt with an Akuma yesterday. Given his pattern I think Hawkmoth won't even start looking for a new victim for at least a few days." Chloe said with a smirk as Marinette and Adrien looked at her.

Juleka looked over at Marinette and smiled softly as she saw Marinette talking with Chloe and Adrien, happy for her friend. _This farce might be good for Marinette to finally start coming out of her shell with Adrien, something that was a long time coming. And I need to get Rose away from Lila, see if distance works on it, if it does then she's not doing in on her own, and that would be very helpful to know._ Juleka thought as she ate her lunch. She looked over at Lila as she talked with the others and smiled as she looked over at Rose as they sat against the north wall.

"So my family took our cousins on the tour the last time they were in Paris, they set up groups of at least four together for safety reasons; want to be in my group?" Rose asked as Jukela looked up and smiled at her friend.

"Sounds fun, who do you want to go with, might be best to find the others now." Jukela said as her eyes found Nino and Alyaand smiled softly. _Maybe I could get more than just Rose away from Lila for a talk._ Juekla thought as she planned and reached into her pocket, caressing a charm her mother made her keep with her since Hero Day, if Lila was like _her_ then then she'd pay, secrecy be dammed!

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Miss Bustier looked behind as her class followed after her, a smile on her face as she watched them walk after her, most of them listing to Lila and she frowned as she heard a bit of what the Italian was saying. Since the Akuma threat had started up the teachers in the city had been told by the school board not to 'rock the boat' when it came to the kids, do what they could to keep their emotions down so **he** wouldn't have a target, but something about how the class was eating up her stories was driving her up a wall. If they didn't get wise to her soon she might have to do something, and if it went on farther and they snapped back she was worried what that could mean if he got a large group with a single item. She tensed as she remembered how she felt when that Akuma took over her and she shuddered as she feared what a large enough rage directed at one person could be used to create and how many would be affected, and honestly that scared her so much. As they reached the entrance they would be using she saw a few people and one man standing apart from them with a miner's helmet on his head. He was wearing a rubber coat and rubber overalls and he looked up and smiled when he saw the group, he had brown hair in a pigtail and he was a bit pale and his black eyes seemed to emit a sense of peace.

"Ah, you must be the class from that school, Collège Françoise Dupont a Miss Bustier? I'm Malcolm and I'll be your tour guide. I'm sorry but I'm afried there was a complication. One of our other guides hasn't been in today and well the boss decided to merge your group with another tour." Malcolm said as he looked at her with an abashed expression on his face. Miss Bustier looked a little angry as she looked over the other people and added up the number of students and the people she could she see and looked back at her students.

"I remember that these tours set up groups of four for safety, something about rules or regulations? Given the people I can see and my students I think you'll need to add at one to my kids." Miss Bustier said as Malcolm looked sheepish. He bowed to her and looked conflicted.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. I tried to stop this but you know how bosses are. Anyhow the only thing left to do is deal with it. Okay kids, come follow me, Miss Bustier if you would walk with me please, everyone get into groups of four and I'll need a group of three please." Malcolm said as the students started to group together.

Lila looked around and saw Nino, Alya, Juleka and Rose together, and looking around for she saw Chloe, Marinette and Adrien walk toward Malcolm and Miss Bustier and cursed as she looked back and saw Kim, Alix and Nathaniel walk towards her and put a smile onto her face. _So those two are with Adrien, I guess this chance to draw him into my web is gone for this trip; there will be other times, in the end he will be mine._ Lila forced her face to keep her thoughts hidden and looked at the four of them.

"So I guess the four of us are a group then!" Lila said as her eyes never left Marinette's body as she watched her talk to Adrien.

Marinette walked with Chloe and Adrien towards the guide and when the two of them nudged her she spoke up.

"You said you needed a group of three?" Marinette asked as Malcolm and Miss Bustier looked up, Malcolm smilling that he didn't have any more problems than he already had and Miss Bustier looked at her students with a somber expression on her face.

"Thank you kids, I really appreciate this. OH, MR. UMBREGERE! I've found the group your with for the tour!" Malcolm called to the left as out as they all turned, Marinette looked a little shocked to see Galan walking towards them. When Marinette didn't step forward Adrien did instead and smiled.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Adrien Agreste, this is Chloe Bourgeois and Marinette Dupain-Cheng." Adrien said as he held his hand out to Galen who looked at Marinette for a few seconds before taking Adrien's hand.

"Greetings, I am Galen Umbrerege, a pleasure to see you again Madame Dupain-Cheng, wait…. Bourgeois, the mayor, his daughter I believe." Galen asked as he looked at first Marinette before he turned to look at Chloe. She looked at him before her eyes caught Marinette's and when Marinette's eyes went to a nearby restaurant she realized who she was talking to. _Dad will have fit if he ever learns I didn't give a good first impression, might as well be a show dog again._ Chloe thought as she forced one of her practiced smiles onto her face.

"Bonjour Monsieur Umbrerege, as the Mayor's daughter let me welcome you to Parris and it is a pleasure to meet you." Chloe said as she turned on the charm as she smiled at him, putting all the times her father had her greet the children of people he wanted to get on the good side of to use once again. Galen looked a little conflicted before he spoke up.

"Please, call me Galen." Galen said as looked at the others and his eyes locked onto Lila and a hard glare came into his eyes that disappeared as fast as it appeared as the scent of her perfume reached them._ Well this is interesting, is she a Natural user or an alchemist, she could even just be related to one. All in all that's not any of my business, if she tries to interfere with me then maybe I'll look into her, but if she leaves me alone then I'll leave her alone._ Galen thought before he turned his attention to the three in front of him.

"So you're all in the Collège Françoise Dupont right? I'll be joining you all within the next few days once a few personal problems are finished. Any class room suggestions?" Galen asked as Malcolm walked away and whistled sharply, brining everyone's attention to him. He smiled at them and waited until he was sure everyone was looking at him before he started to speak.

"Okay everyone please pay attention. My name is Malcolm and I'll be your tour guide thought the Catacombs! Now people while it is perfectly safe in the event that something happens please make sure you with your group once you're safe, I want everyone to make a note of who you're with and try to keep track of each other! Now please follow me and we'll get started." Malcolm said as he walked towards the opening and led the way downward.

Juleka looked around as Rose clung to her as they passed all the bones and part of her was excited. She looked at Nino and Alya and saw their eyes still had the same thing Rose's did. It was subtle and if you weren't looking for it you would never see it but since Juleka had been on the opposite side she knew how to spot it. _Those three might be a problem, if she tries to get them under her control then, I don't know but it can't be like her, it just can't. I have to talk to my brother. Still this is so amazing, it really makes you stand up and notice what people can do to honor those who came before._ Juleka thought as she looked around at all the bones and listened to Malcolm with one ear, others have quite conversations as they all walked through the tunnels.

Alya looked at Marinette as she talked with Chloe, Adrien and that black haired teen as they walked followed Malcolm and she frowned. _I'm the one whose usually partnered with Marinette on trips, why am I with Nino and she's with Chloe, when did we start to drift apart?_ Alya thought before she felt something steer with in her but it died and she shook her head, wondering what she had been thinking for the last few minutes and drawing a blank.

"So going to put any of this up on the school blog baby?" Nino asked as they moved along, watching Alya who took her phone out and looked around before looking back at him with a smirk on her face.

"Gotta keep it updated Nino, and what kind of website admin would I be if I didn't." Alya said with a smirk on her face as Rose forced a laugh to get her mind off where they were. _I couldn't have stayed home today and not come on this trip; mom had to talk me into it. Still an early dismissal isn't something to laugh at and this isn't as bad as it could be, at least I'm with Juleka….and the others of course._ Rose thought with a blush before speaking to take her mind off what she just thought.

"When you do would you mind putting it on a separate page, I just like to check out the blog now and then." Rose said as she looked at her with a look of freight in her eyes as they moved along. Alya conked her head and started to think before a smirk worked its way onto her face.

"Yeah, a section for field trip photos, that might work, thanks Rose, that's a great idea!" Alya said as she grinned. Juleka looked at her friends and decided to take a small gamble. She looked around at Lila and wondered if they were far enough away to let her talk without Lila hearing her. She noticed Lila talking to the three she was with and noticed her eyes were on Marinette and Adrien who were talking with the person they were with. _I guess she might not be targeting others for that, maybe she's just after a boyfriend who would pamper her. But where did she get that perfume, it had to have been made with supplies from there so how in the name of creation did she get it._ Jukela thought and decided to wait a while until she brought it up with the others, until she was away from Lila.

"So you were homeschooled back in England, what did you never want to go to public school?" Adrien asked as the four of them followed Malcolm as he and Miss Bustier as he explained a few parts of the past of the room they were walking into.

"No, I had friends who were also homeschooled, more like the children of friends of the family really, I had my studies and outings with them and everything seemed normal. When grandfather made a suggestion that I would go with him when he proposed the new restaurant and suggested I go to public school my mother thought it was a great idea to learn to interact with the public and well the rest is history." Galen said as they moved and looked around the room, noticing all the skulls and hiding a smirk as he looked around with a gleam in eyes. _I thought it was just a story but this is true. Once I have a chance and find a few areas that people aren't allowed into and start harvesting, a few days' work and once the artisans arrive then we can make a lot of war materials._ Galen thought as he looked back at the others.

"The opposite of Adrien here, he wanted to go to public school so badly that he escaped from his house a few times and his bodyguard had to catch him before he could make it to the school." Chloe said as Adrien just looked sheepish and Marinette looked at him. Galen looked at him and shrugged at Adrien's actions.

"Well to each his own I guess, still this is amazing, it really makes you think about the human spirit and the way people will honor the departed." Galen looked around at the bones. Marinette shivered as she looked about and closed her eyes.

"I never liked this place ever since I heard about it, I always was taught that the body should stay together when a person dies, not sure what made people think this was acceptable." Marinette said as she looked around and Chloe put a hand on her shoulder, smiling and nodding when Marinette looked at her. Chloe saw the others in their group was looking at her and scoffed as she looked around with a pretend haunty look on her face.

"Yeah I can agree with that belief, and when you think about it this place is a testament for how fall the government will go to solve a problem and how much it is the government's position to step on the beliefs of those under them for their own good, and by their own good I mean of those on top." Chloe said as she adopted a superior look on her face before she dropped it and she started to giggle quietly as Marinette and Adrien joined her in quite laughter. Galen looked at them as he tried to figure out just how those people represented public students and if he should have argued more with his parents about joining public school.

Chloe laughed as she looked about the others in the area and saw Juleka trying to keep Rose, Nino and Alya away Lila and wondered what that was about. _If Juleka knows anything about the bitch I need to know it, but will she talk to me about her? I really burned a lot of bridges over the last year but I hope she would help Marinette. Wait what's that?!_ Chloe thought as she looked down sharply as she _sensed_ something below them.

"So why didn't the other guide come in, any ideas?" Miss Bustier asked Malcolm as he looked at her as they watched the others in the tour examine the chamber he had led them to.

"He got the last 'Akuma hiders' check. You wouldn't believe where people end up down here trying to hide when the siren for an Akuma attack sounds. Most people who get that usually skip the next day and the boss lets it go without pay of course, but Carl usually calls it in, hope he wasn't in an accident or something." Malcolm said as he looked around and nodded._ Okay, that's the second chamber reached, two more then we turn around and head back on the second path. All in all a perfect tour just have to finish….what's that._ Malcolm thought as he noticed a crack forming in the middle of the roam. He reacted even as he knew that it was pointless, but his training took over.

"EVERYONE MOVE TO THE EDGES OF THE ROOM NOW!" Malcolm cried out as he grabbed Miss Bustier and lunged for the edges of the room, unfortunately it was too little too late. The floor suddenly started to fall apart and all the people in the room fell into the darkness.

A splash and a cold feeling suddenly hit Marinette as she tried to get her sense of self as she looked about, she was under water! She saw Adrien and Chloe both snap back to consciousness and both of them looked around, looking around she saw her classmates floating a few feet down floating back to the surface, and she grabbed Nino and Mylène and kicked upwards as she saw Chloe and Adrien grab people near them. As she broke the surface she saw Juleka holding Rose as Malcolm and Miss Bustier went under and turning Marinette saw a the edge of the water and a shoreline that she swam towards, when she heard Nino start to cough she moved Mylène's body towards him.

"Nino, Nino wake up!" Marinette said forcible as Nino spluttered and looked around, realizing he was in water.

"Marinette, what happened?" He asked as he blinked._ We're in water, how the last thing I remember…_ his thoughts died when he heard Marinette continue.

"No time for that, get Mylène to shore and start pulling others onto land." Marinette said as she pushed Nino towards shore and went towards the next person she was nearest to, Kim. Grabbing her after making surer the person, Kim was breathing, she swam to the shore line, Chloe having reached the shore and put Alya onto the dirt and helped pull Kim out of the water she helped Marinette onto the ground and they both sat and panted. As the others got out of the water Malcolm and Miss Bustier helped Ivan onto shore as the group started to pant as they caught their breath.

"Is that all of your students?" Malcolm asked as he tried to catch his breath and turned on his head light as he looked around and noticed all his tourists were there. Miss Bustier looked around and gave a sigh of relief as Malcolm looked upwards and frowned when the light hit black rope like objects around a tunnel leading upwards. _That's what we fell down but what are those things? I've never seen the like before… can't let them know that, if I'm right we're in the pool in the southern gallery about three levels down, how'd we fall that far…something to figure out later. _Malcolm thought as the others caught their breath and tried to make sense of what had happened. He looked down at his watch and cursed as he saw it was around two PM, they would have to move soon. Looking around he saw a few lights and a sign post that had the words 'Southern Pool' and sighed when he confirmed where they were, following the cables from the lights he saw an opening and nodded, he could get them out of this place but they needed to move. He whistled and started to speak once he saw the others were looking at him.

"Okay people I'm sorry about this but we have to move within the next ten minutes, the temperature will drop to freezing if we're not up higher up in the catacombs." Malcolm said a hard voice as the others looked at him in confusion.

"I know this might seem wrong but we have to move, we're three floors down and we need to get back to the first level before five and we have miles to walk so we have to move. I'm sorry but I won't force you, if you want to stay here for help to come I'll go get it but I'll be waiting over there so anyone who wants to come follow me, I'll let you all take the time to catch your breath but we have to move soon." Malcolm said as he moved towards the opening and stood there looking at them all. Miss Bustier sent her students a reassuring smile and walked towards Malcolm as the other tourists looked over themselves.

"Shouldn't we stay in one place if we get lost?" Rose asked from where she was sitting as the students looked at each other. Ivan shook his head before speaking.

"No, that's the worst thing to do underground. My uncle manages a mine, he told me something once. What a lot of people don't know is that underground the temperature can drop a lot and it depends how deep we are, if we're too deep we might not survive." Ivan said as others looked scared and Marinette looked about before taking a deep breath. _Well I can't blame them for falling for her lies now, time to be class represented and take charge._ Marinette thought as she stood up and cleared her throat so the others would look at her.

"Hey don't let your fear beat you; he said he'll get us out of here. He probably knows where we are and all we have to do is follow him and he'll lead us to the exit." Marinette said as she got up and walked towards Malcolm. The others looked at each other and Lila brought a hand to her face and hid a frown as she noticed her perfume was gone._ Aunty did say not to swim, but I guess a lot of water washes it away. And that maiala Cheng had to open her fat mouth and set me back a bit, but don't worry you maiala, I'll get you back and maybe I should focus my efforts one or two of these cogliones._ Lila thought as she looked around and saw Kim and Alix helping each other up. While she plotted her next move she never saw Chloe look at her before standing up and shivered at the temperature, Chloe looked about and saw the others were on the edge of staying and decided to make a move.

"Well I'm going, you can stay here if you want but I'm following them." Chloe said as she walked after Marinette. The others looked at each other and started to get up, Juleka helping Rose to her feet and pulling her friend behind her as the others moved towards the gathering and Malcolm nodded and moved out. As the others watched Ivan stood up and helped Mylène to her feet and walk with her, a few seconds later the rest of the class got up as well.

Marinette had seen Chloe's actions and had stayed behind to shoot Chloe a small smile and received in return before Marinette looked at the people leaving the chamber. Chloe felt strange and reached into her purse and felt Pollen hug her finger and smiled, they would get through this, but as she moved she looked about and frowned. _What was that before the floor dropped away, it felt like something was dead and moving, I need to talk to Pollen when I can get away or home._ Chloe thought as she followed the group out of the chamber

Adrien stayed back seeing to make sure everyone was moving towards the exit and looking around he saw Galen was still on the ground by the water, looking into it. He walked over wondering if he had recovered from the fall.

"You're staying here alone then Galen?" Adrien asked as he looked at Galen who was still on the ground. He looked up at Adrien and smiled shakily.

"No I'm right behind you, just swallowed some water that went down the wrong pipe, I'll be right behind you." Galen said as he brought out a phone from his pocket and Adrien nodded.

"Five minutes or the first turn you're not there I'll be back for you." Adrien promised as he moved to the tunnel. Galen watched him leave the room and reached into his pocket and put two small charms made of bone on the ground, his hand giving off a small glow that never left the area, he looked down at the pool and made a decision. _Go out of this chamber, find a way up two levels and find a source of following water, follow it to its source and stay out of sight._ Galen thought his commands and when the charms started to glow a pale purple he smiled, dropped them and walked after Adrien. A few minutes after they all had left black figures with six spear like legs dropped out of the hole and looked at each other before moving after the group, making chirping sounds as the moved through away from the cavern. No sooner than they had left then then the charms Galen had dropped started to glow.

"Okay, does everyone have a working phone? And of them have an app to use it as a flashlight?" Malcolm asked as they moved through the darkness. Hearing a chorus of replays he thought for a few seconds before making a decision.

"Okay, I'm pretty sure where we all are so we will make it up and out before dark. But to make sure we get there safely I want only the people at the edges of the group to use their phones, everyone else keep them off, if your phone dies go inside and someone with a working phone and app go to the outside of the group. Please everyone follow my instructions and we will get through this alive." Malcolm said as Kim got out his phone and Rose did the same on the opposite side of the group, their phones causing a light to fill the dark tunnels.

Juleka looked about pulled Rose with her as they moved with the group, Rose shivering as she walked. Juleka rubbed Rose's shoulder and when she looked at Juleka she smiled at Rose and tried to keep her spirits up.

"Don't worry Rose; from what this guy is saying he knows where we are and how to get us out of this place. So be brave for a little while and we'll have a funny story to tell our families." Juleka said speaking softly as they walked down the tunnels.

"You really think so Juleka?" Ivan asked behind the two of them as he, Adrien and Chloe moved closer to the others.

"Yeah I do, it was shocking what happened to us so suddenly but I'm sure we'll get through this in one piece." Juleka said as they passed other openings as they moved down the tunnels. Chloe looked behind them and while she didn't say anything she was sure something was out there in the darkness, something that was tracking them. Galen walked just behind them, a serene look on his face as he looked about, noting the bones on the wall and the signs that people hadn't been in there for a long time._ I don't know how we fell so far but this is perfect, there are so many materials to use and there so ripe for harvesting! This is perfect, and with the opening our 'workers' made we have a perfect way to get down here._ Galen thought as it was all he could do to not whistle and laugh gleefully as he moved.

He never noticed Juleka looking over her shoulder at him with a look in her eyes that held confusion, suspension and a hard edge. _Why the hell does he seem to be like someone I met before, what about him makes me think I know someone like him? I hate when this happens, when my subconscious notices things I don't! Do I have someone else to keep an eye on, is he like her?_ Juleka thought as she turned her head around and kept an eye on the group's progress, trying to make sure that she or Rose didn't trip on anything.

Up front Miss Bustier moved closer to Malcolm as he looked around and when he stopped and looked at rocks blocking a passage she felt a chill go down her spine when he frowned. Malcolm paid no attention to her as he reached for his phone and pulled up a program and looked at a sign next to the rocks and cursed as he looked screen and touched it._ How the hell, where did these rocks come from? The program says someone walked through this path about two weeks ago, so when? Doesn't matter, this way is closed so we have to go there, another two miles but we can cut a few miles off the walk on the next floor if we do that._ Malcolm jumped when he felt Miss Bustier put a hand on his shoulder. He turned and smiled at her, his smile falling when she looked at him with a hard look to her eyes and a frown on her face.

"Yeah, I thought you wouldn't buy that smile." Malcolm said as he just sighed._ So she's cute, smart and observant; just great._ Malcolm thought as he waited for her to speak.

"What's wrong and how does it affect us?" Miss Bustier asked as she looked at the rocks across one tunnel and looked down the path to the right and looked back at him as he moved down that path as she and the others followed. Looking back she saw the others were far enough away for her to have a quite conversation with their guide.

"That rock fall, a few Akuma attacks have caused damage down here but nothing like that since the one that flooded everything. Anyway the map I have is about two days old and those rocks weren't on it. But the path we're taking will get us to another way up and after that the way to the first level will be a lot easier, and before you say anything I was taking us on the route that got us up the shortest, not easiest. And yes when you have to chart a route in three dimensions that is different." Malcolm said softly as he led the way, Miss Bustier following behind them, neither of them knew Marinette, Chloe and Adrien had all heard them even though they was so far behind them that only unintelligible echoes would have been heard by a normal person.

Stopping to look at the rocks she felt looked at them for a few seconds as her thoughts raced. _I don't like this; if Chloe or Adrien asks then I'll say I overheard the guide tell Miss_ _Bustier the rocks shouldn't have been there. What is happening here, and an Akuma, no it would have shown itself by now. _ She stood there think deeply, so deeply that she never noticed when Lila reached her and pushed her aside to the ground, Lila just continue the conversation she was having with Nathaniel and Alix as she walked away, talking about how her mother once took her for dinner in New York City once upon a time. When Chloe stopped next to Marinette, Chloe looked at Lila as she walked ahead of them.

"She lost her perfume and she's telling stories that are a lot easier to believe." Chloe said softly to Marinette as she helped her back to her feet. Marinette shot Chloe a look and frowned when she realized that Chloe was right and the story Lila was telling was a lot more down to earth._ So we don't know what caused those rocks to block the path, not good. If something happens I just hope I can slip away and transform._ Chloe thought as they moved on and followed Malcolm's light.

"Your nose isn't bothering you?" Marinette asked as they watched their class follow after Miss Bustier and their guide, trying to keep them in sight. Chloe shook her head and shivered when they passed an open passage way and she looked down it. The people at the back of the group had caught up and Ivan looked at the two of them and frowned when he saw the rocks, moving towards them and shining his phone onto something he saw reflected in the light. As his light shined onto the rocks he frowned when he saw black reflective lines on some of the rocks and looked at them.

"What is it Ivan?" Mylène asked as she stopped a few feet away and saw him reaching down and picking up a rock he brought against one of the boulders. He looked at the boulder and turned back to Mylène and shook his head and smiled at her.

"Just some cave moss I've never seen before Mylène, nothing to worry about." Ivan said as they rejoined the others. Mylène smiled at him but while Ivan didn't let his concerned show as they traveled through the tunnels._ That wasn't moss, it was too hard for that and the rock cracked a bit when it hit. I have a really bad feeling about this._ Ivan thought as he moved down the tunnel, keeping his body between the darkness and Mylène.

Malcolm looked around, the light from his helmet illuminating a large cavern, the group coming out onto a ledge wide enough for a big rig to drive along, the cavern going down ten meters with wooden bridges here and there going across to the other side, and at the bottom of the cavern mine tracks with a few wooden structures here and there and a river that ran through it parallel to the ledge on the bottom level. Three lampposts were setup with the on the edge of the ledge and shined light down on the lower levels lights were hung on the wall with a few pickaxes either whole or broken here and there. Along the wall were multiple passageways that with a bridge across the open air that went to the far side of the cavern to a ledge in darkness. Malcolm looked down and sighed. _Well at least I'll be able to show them something that most people haven't been able to see, and to think I was trying to get this put on the deep tour that I was proposing we set up for special occasions._ Malcolm thought as he looked around at the people looking over the edge.

"Well this wasn't on the tour but welcome to the Base people! This area was discovered in the year 1960 after the catacombs were finally reopened to the public after the war. The best idea is that this place was set up by people trying to hide from the Nazis but no one ever came forward to admit they knew anything about this; this here is one of the 'Ten Great Mysterys of the Catacombs'! Most people don't ever see this place, so let's keep moving. Most of these passages go upwards but a few of them go down to the caverns floor." Malcolm said as the others looked down from the ledge. Marinette looked at the cavern and shook her head; something about this place was familiar for some reason. As Marinette looked down she barely noticed Chloe move next to her and look down.

"Daddy said that they were saying that there a few things down here that might make good tourist attractions and I guess he was right. I just hope he doesn't try and have me along for a celebrity first tour. I mean….Marinette, are you okay?" Chloe's question caused Marinette to jolt and whip her head to look at Chloe before sighing.

"Sorry Chloe, that place down there, for some reason it seems familiar." Marinette said as she looked down at the structures thirty feet down. Chloe looked at her; neither of them noticing Lila was trying to overhear them, hoping for any bit of dirt to use against either of them. Marinette looked down before suddenly her face lit up.

"Yeah it looks, that's it, grandma! She used to sing me a song when she used to watch me for my parents when I was around six or seven! 'A river underground through the camp on the floor, follow back to dragon". That looks like…why would my grandma know anything about this place?" Marinette asked as she looked down at the river.

Malcolm looked back into the way that they had come when he heard a rock fall behind them and frowned when he thought he saw something move. _ I thought something was following us but I didn't want to be right. Got to get the others away and try to see just what it is._ Malcolm thought as he looked at the people who were counting on him. He grabbed one of them and looked around at the people, a smile on his face before he started to speak and let his voice carry to everyone.

"Just find a passage that has a blue arrow pointing upwards on the top and you'll golden! They'll take you to the next level up, just keep walking and when you reach an incline go up it to the end and you'll be there, once there go to under the lights and go the way the arrow under them are pointing and you'll make it back to the top level, and once there do the same to get out." Malcolm said as he pushed people along the way as he looked behind him, Miss Bustier went towards him and frowned.

"Why do I think you're telling us this because you won't be there to lead us?" She asked as he looked back into the way they had come.

"I think something might be following us, I'm staying behind as a rearguard, I'll keep moving backwards slowly don't worry about me, worry about those kids." Malcolm said as he looked into the darkness and was sure he saw something against the dark void. Ivan merely pushed Mylène towards Juleka and Rose and he frowned as he looked ahead and saw Lila moving ahead faster than before. _Those boxing lesson mom had me take to defend myself might be finally getting a workout. I might be a soft person but I don't leave people to protect others alone._ Ivan thought as he looked at the girls.

"Ivan?" Mylène asked as he smiled at her. _Sorry Mylène, but I can't let you come to harm. If something it following us our guide might need someone to help him keep us safe._ Ivan thought as he looked at Mylène and Juleka who nodded at him as he steeled his face.

"I'm not the kind of guy to leave someone alone to face the unknown; you'll make sure they get back to safety?" He asked Juleka before he turned back to the gateway and steeled himself.

"Ivan!" Mylène said as Juleka pulled her after her as she and Rose moved after the others. Miss Bustier looked at Ivan before turning towards Malcolm and took off her coat and looked back at her class. Malcolm looked at her and was about to say something when Miss Bustier looked at her with a scowl on her face.

"I might not look like it but I have trained in Muay Thai, and you two might need some help." Miss Bustier said as Ivan looked at her with surprise and Malcolm smirked at her.

"Thanks for that, if nothing comes we follow after the others fast and…there it is." Malcolm said as they all heard the sound of scuttling in the darkness coming towards them.

"Keep going everyone, and make sure when you get up there you send people back to help!" Miss Bustier called out as the rest of the group stopped and looked back at her before they moved faster towards the passage to the surface. Juleka pulled Rose and Mylène past Marinette who had stopped and looked around, seeing that Galen had picked up a pickaxe and Adrien had grabbed a pickaxe without a head and was looking back over his shoulder with concern. Lila had grabbed Max and Kim with Nathaniel following behind her and was moving towards the tunnel, pushing aside people as she moved. _I don't know Lila well but I'm starting to think I shouldn't. Gotta get away and transform, Plagg should know how to handle this. _Adrien thought as he scowled as he held the broken pickaxe as he looked at Lila. Adrien thought as he looked back towards the three at the entrance to the cavern, debating if he should go and help thembecause of his fencing training.

"It could be nothing, right Marinette?" Chloe asked as they moved faster, cursing herself for not transforming and staying to help out. Marinette looked Chloe at and smiled but before she could say anything…..

"AAAAGGGGH!" A cry from ahead of them caused the two of them to look up and saw one of the tourists was on the ground, a large dog sized black spider like Kaiju with six legs had pinned him down and was spitting silk at him, covering his body as he struggled. Miss Bustier turned when the sound of a fist striking something caused to turn her head back and saw another of the black spiders fall over the ledge, Ivan's fist in front of her face as he looked out at into the darkness as five more of the black spiders came at them. Miss Bustier grabbed one of the pickaxes and started swinging at any of them that tried to get by her.

"Come on you idiots!" Lila cried out as she ran, Alex, Kim and Nathaniel following her down the ledge. Lila heard the cries as more of the spiders attacking and had ducked down the first blue arrow passage she could reach and pulled the other Kim and Alix two with her, Nathaniel following behind

"The others!" Kim cried out as he tried to pull out of her grip as she pulled him along behind her. _She doesn't look that strong, how is she pulling me like this!_ Kim thought as he looked back down the tunnel as Lila dragged him behind her. Lila only shook her head kept looking forward and pulling them after her as she ran down the tunnel. Nathaniel looked behind him as he ran, hoping the others would be okay.

"We have to stay alive first, we can't help anyone if we can't help ourselves! We'll find a safe place to hide and go from there!" Lila said as she ran. _Thank you so much for the tonics you sent to help me get stronger Aunty. With any luck after Marinette will get killed or hurt enough to miss a few days, give me some time to work on the others. And I might need some meet shields between now and then!_ Lila thought as she led the way, hoping that

Adrien batted the spider attacking the man before Galen slammed the pickaxe down onto its head as Chloe and Marinette helped the tourist back to his feet, Marinette heard a scuffle and looked over the edge and paled as she stumbled backwards. Chloe grabbed her but before she could say anything….

"RUN! THERE'S A LOT MORE OF THEM COMING UP THE CLFF!" Marinette managed to scream out before ten more spiders crested the cliff and moved towards the people. Scrambling away she ran down a tunnel, praying she could find a place to transform into Ladybug, not noticing Chloe, Adrien and Galen had each run down a separate tunnel.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Marinette ran down the tunnel, her heart going into her throat as she felt the tunnel slop downward and looked back, smiling when she saw she was alone. _Perfect I'm alone. This might be the only chance I have but there will be problems at the end but I can deal with them later, what matter's now is to save lives._ Marinette thought as she opened her purse and Tikki shot up and hovered at eye level.

"Marinette! Are you okay, I wanted to fly out when we hit the water but there were so many people around!" Tikki said as she looked at Marinette who smiled at her.

"I'm fine Tikki and keeping you secret is important! I was more worried about you then anything." Marinette said only for Tikki to laugh lightly.

"We kwami can breathe water as easily as air, the potions only let you breath when we transform together." Tiki said as Marinette looked at her with a wary smile as she sighed. _Tikki loves to give me fits and I wonder why I should be surprised at this point. But I can deal with that later, for now what is happening right now is more important._ Marinette thought as she looked down the tunnel as she started to hear the spiders come after her.

"Let's deal with this now, Tikki, Spots on!" Marinetta said as she turned her head and Tikki shot into her earrings. A red glow started at her feet as her cloths transformed into a red skintight bodysuit with a black collar and black spots were all over it, at her right hip formed a yo-yo and a red mask with five black spots that are in a symmetrical design appeared covering her upper face and eyes. Marinette was gone and in her place stood Ladybug! Ladybug looked back towards where the sounds came from and ran at it, drawing her yo-yo with her right and starting to spin it in a circle as she ran. She saw two spiders running down the tunnel and spun her yo-yo in front of her as they spat silk at her and when her yo-yo deflected the lines she stuck the one of the spiders in its head, expecting to incapacitate it but she broke its head and as she stared in shock the other spider jumped at her, reacting on her instincts she jumped over it and shot her yo-yo at it and killed it by crushing its brain.

As her yo-yo dripped red and black blood she looked down at the spiders and stared in shock and horror, had she killed someone? As she reacted Tikki tried to get her attention. _**MARINETTE, YOU'VE GOT TO GET A GRIP.**_Tikkisent to Ladybug, causing her to shake her head and put a hand to her head.

"Tikki, how is this possible, please tell me they weren't human." Ladybug begged as she looked at the two corpses. _**No, they were made from spiders, not humans and not by an Akuma.**_ Tikki sent as Ladybug looked down at the corpses as she fought her to keep her revulsion at bay.

"How could anyone make these things from normal spiders, wait that's not important, that means that we don't have an Akuma that defeating will cause them to disappear when I cleanse it, this is bad." Ladybug said as she looked back towards where she had come from and frowned. Something was happening around her, something that for some reason she felt everything she knew would change.

Juleka ran down the first passage she could reach, pulling Rose and Mylène behind her and praying that they could get away, and that she had run down a blue diamond tunnel. Rose looked behind her and almost stumbled when she saw that they were being followed by three of the spiders.

"Their coming!" Rose managed to get out as she tried to keep moving as she and Mylène followed Juleka. Juleka cursed the fact that both of her hands were being used to drag them, if she could have dropped her charm and sent the commands to destroy the spiders then they wouldn't have ever know she did it, but it was looking like she would have to show them her secret.

"Keep moving, we just have to get away from them, normal spiders hunt by sight and their webs, so I don't think they have good hearing!" Juleka said as she prayed that the information that she half remembered was right. Juleka saw a light ahead and smiled before she entered the chamber, and as they did her face fell. The room they had come into was a thirty foot wide circular chamber with a pool of water twenty feet wide with only one entrance and three light posts spaced evenly around it. Juleka never stopped, pulling the other two behind her to right and stopping when they had run twenty feet, turning and putting herself between the girls and the tunnel's mouth.

"How are we going to get out of here?" Rose asked as she hugged Mylène as the spiders started to move after them two going after them and one going around the other way. She stared when Juleka shot her a confident smirk and walked a few feet in front of them and reached into her pocket.

"I didn't plan on showing you this here, but could the two of you not tell anyone about this, I'll explain with my ma and brother later okay, but once we're back with the others please don't say anything." Juleka said as she removed a necklace of shark teeth with blue lines on them and plucked one from it.

"Juleka?" Rose asked as she stared as Juleka's hand holding started to glow white before she threw it at the spiders and called out.

"AQUA TRICKSTER!" She cried out as a white portal appeared and a blue skinned humanoid with skinny legs ending in points wearing a purple bodysuit with two clawed hands in purple 'glovers' and a skinny tail from the top of its head that stopped at its knees with a triangle like sucker with three claws at the points.

Rose and Mylène just stared at Juleka as she grinned as she pointed at the lone spider with a glowing hand before calling out.

"Agua Shot!" From her hand shot a jet of water that shot straight at the spider and it cried as the water pierced its body and it collapsed against the wall, leaking red and black blood. The Aqua Trickster dashed at the two dog sized spiders and clawed at one as it shot a blast of energy from its 'tail' at the other one. The blast scorched the flesh of the spider and tor way two of its legs on its right side, the spider leaking more of the red and black blood as it fell to the floor as the last spider tried to back away before the Aqua Trickster shot another energy bullet at the spider and blew its head off.

Juleka breathed heavily as she turned towards the others who stared at her with open mouths and grinned cheekily at her friends. _Not how I planned to show my friends if I ever had to but I'm glad we're safe for now._ Juleka thought as she looked at the others and sighed before speaking.

"I said I'd explain later right?" She asked as she looked at her friend who only nodded at her mutely. Rose and Mylène only looked at her, their eyes darting from her to the Aqua Trickster as it walked on the water to stand opposite the tunnel they had come through, nodding dumbly at Juleka.

Adrien looked behind him and cursed the fact that he hadn't stayed and fought instead running away. He looked behind him and saw no one following him and looked around and noticed a side passage that went a few feet into the rock. He slipped into the depression and opened his coat, Plagg floating out and shook himself and shuddered.

"Man kid first a bath and now spiders, what happened to you, did someone bless you to have an interesting life or something?" Plagg asked as he looked at Adrien. Adrien only shook his head and grinned back at Plagg.

"Who knows Plagg, but we've got to go. We have to help the others as soon as we can. We have to find the Akuma and deal with it." Adrien said as Plagg look at him and floated towards the opening to the depression and frowned as he flexed his ears.

"Sooner rather than later kid, I hear something coming, something with many legs." Plagg said as he flattened his ears against his head as Adrien scowled. _They followed me a lot faster than I thought they would, this is bad I have to deal with it and then try and protect the rest of the others. _Adrien thought as he gained a hard look and looked back towards where he had run away and left the others.

"Then let's do it, Plagg, Claws Out!" Adrien said as he trust his right hand out and Plagg flew into the ring. As a black glow formed around him his cloths changed into a black skin-tight catsuit with matching boots and gloves with claws on the fingertips. His head become cat-like with green sclerae, dark green irises, and oblong pupils. His hair becomes longer and untamed, covering his normal ears while cat ears appeared on his head and a mask went over his eyes while around his neck appeared a golden bell. A long black belt wrapped around his waist with a bit of it hanging out from the back like a tail. Adrien was gone and Chat Noir dashed out into the tunnel and moved towards the noise, now able to see like it was noon and drew his staff from behind, spinning it above his head as he ran. _First thing first, we'll stop what's following me and then we'll try to find the others and protect them until Ladybug gets here. _ Chat Noir thought to Plagg as he ran, smirking when he was the spiders. He jumped over one, dodging the black silk it shot at him and stabbed downward as he passed over it, expecting it to disappear like most Akuma's minions but his staff gored the spider and as he moved he brought it back with his momentum and when he landed he threw it off his staff into the wall where it slid to the floor, bleeding red and black blood.

Chat Noir felt Plagg's shock as he looked at the blood. _Plagg what's wrong, I mean I expected a minion to disappear into smoke but why isn't it, isn't this thing an Akuma's minion?_ Chat Noir thought as he looked at the corpse. _**Kid that's not a minion, its base was a normal spider before someone or something got to it.**_Plagg sent to Chat Noir as he looked at the dead spider._ Yeah an Akuma got to it right Plagg? _Chat Noir thought only for Plagg to interrupt him._**You're not understanding me, this thing wasn't made by an Akuma! It was made by a someone or something who used Alchemy! **_Plagg sent to Chat Noir who became confused as he tried to understand. _Plagg what do you mean? Latter we have to help the others, if these things aren't an Akuma's doing then no magic fix right?_ Chat Noir thought as he turned and dashed up the tunnel, as he ran he felt Plagg send a sense of agreement at him.

Ivan slammed a fist against a spider and winced as he felt the chitin of it break and cut his hand. The spiders drew back and gave him a second to check his surroundings, and he winced as he saw that he was alone, Malcolm and Miss Bustier were gone, both had to have been dragged off by the spiders and he was standing alone against them. So far he had been able to hold his own but they had been buying time, he could see that now, and as the other spiders surrounded him he tensed._ I saw Mylène being dragged off by Juleka, so she was safe. If these things are going to take me down then, then I'll make sure that there will be a lot less of them to go after the others!_ Ivan thought as he looked at the spiders around him and dared one to make a move. He staggered forward when something hit his back, turning his head he saw a line of black silk had hit him between the shoulder blades and as he looked at it more started to hit the rest of his body, restraining him.

As a few of the spiders moved closer to him he strained with all his might and snarled as he felt the silk start to cover him. He strained and reached for every bit of strength he could and as he did so, he reached for _more_. A white aura formed around him and he felt the lines holding him break and he smashed a fist down and smashed the closest spider to paste as the other spiders lurched backwards, the broken strain of holding him in place causing their fall. Ivan looked at the white glow about his fist as he got up and stared as he felt _something_ following through him as the spiders regrouped. He heard something being spitted and he moved to the side, barreling though the spiders and colliding with the wall, surprisingly only feeling the impact against the dirt. Ivan looked up at the spiders that were gathering around him and grinned something in him knew he would be okay now. _Don't know how I'm doing this but I just hope it lasts! Just got to get rid of six of them and then I can try to find the others. _Ivan thought as he looked at the spiders and glared at them.

"Okay you scum get ready to die!" He bellowed as he charged at the spiders and kicked one out into the open air. He didn't give them time to recover and slammed a fist into the 'head' of another one and grabbed the body and used it as a club to send another of them into the air. He looked about and looked about and saw two of them running back down the tunnel the group had entered from and the last one jumped at him. He moved to the side and grabbed the spider, spinning around and throwing it into the open air. As he breathed heavily he saw the aura die down and turned towards the tunnels farther down, he had to find Mylène and make sure she was safe. He moved forwards and his vision started to darken and as he walked forwards he fell to the ground.

"IVAN!" His name caused him to look up and saw Mylène running towards him with Rose, Juleka and a purple-fish man coming towards him as he passed out.

Chloe ran, hoping she soon would find some hidden place to transform. She saw a side chamber and dashed into it and slammed against the wall, hoping she could catch her breath. _ Okay, since I'm alone this is the best time to change. Hopefully the two of us will be able to hold out until Ladybug and Chat Noir hear about this and handle wherever the Akuma is._ She opened her purse and Pollen flew out of it and shot up to eye level.

"CHLOE, are you okay, when I heard the screams it was all that I could do not to fly out and try and help!" Pollen said as she hugged Chloe's check and Chloe looked at her friend and smiled.

"I'm fine Pollen, it was just a few of an Akuma's minions. Once we can transform and look….for Ladybug….What is it Pollen?" Chloe asked when she saw Pollen's face. Pollen looked at Chloe and said a sentence that froze her in place.

"Those things, whatever they were weren't Akuma or their minions." Pollen said as Chloe looked at Pollen in total shock. _Not an Akuma, but what are they then? No I have to transform and stop them. I can only hope that Ladybug and Chat Noir find out about this and find a way down here._ Chloe thought as she absorb what Pollen said with a hint of fear growing within her.

"Are you sure? I mean completely sure Pollen, this is very important." Chloe asked as she looked at Pollen before a scream echoed off the tunnel walls.

"You can tell me once we've transformed, Pollen, Buzz On!" Chloe said as she raised her right hand to her head and flicked her hair and Pollen shot into the hairpin she wore. From her shoes a golden glow started to go up her body, transforming her shoes into black boots that went to her knees while her clothing became a yellow suit that went up her neck with two black stripes on her thighs and three black stripes on her torso with the top one the size of a corset that stopped at the top of her breasts and at her hip formed a yellow fan. The sleeves were black turning into gloves with yellow fingers. A black mask formed on her face and her ponytail gained a black strip while her hair band gained two black antennae-like ribbons and the hairpin tuned gold. Within seconds Chole was gone and Queen Bee was in her place. Queen Bee looked around and _saw _more than she did when she was Chloe and dashed towards the scream. _What do you mean those things weren't Akuma Pollen? _Queen Bee thought at Pollen, waiting for the kwami's replay as she moved upwards towards the scream._**Every Akuma and their minions 'feel' like Nooroo, these things don't feel like him or other kwami. I don't know what they are but there not connected to us or Hawkmoth.**_ Pollen sent to Queen Bee as she ran up the sloping tunnel.

"Well whatever they really are, they will not hurt anyone while we're here Pollen." Queen Bee said as she saw two black spiders attacking two of the tourists and drew her fan; opening it as she ran at spiders. She lunged at one and slice through two of its legs and turned to the other one to see Chat Noir bat it away with his staff into the wall and it splattered apart when it hit.

"Hey Queenie, what's a bug like you doing in the dirt, looking for a place to make a new hive?" Chat asked with a grin. Queen Bee released a breath she didn't know she was holding, if her comrades were here then maybe they would all get through this alive after all. _I'd wonder why Chat is here but I'm not going ask why I have some help_. Queen Bee thought as she looked at Chat with a smirk on her face.

"Well what's a stray cat like you doing here then, looking for a new den?" She asked a little cheekily as she looked at the three tourists. Chat laughed and moved towards her with in a nondescript manor.

"I'm merely looking for a wonder down here to show to my lady. Did your partner tell you anything about them?" Chat finished softly as he looked at the corpses of the spiders.

Queen Bee only shook her head and looked at the tourists who looked at them and spoke quietly; hopping the people behind them couldn't hear what they were saying.

"Only that an Akuma didn't create them, what did yours? Pollen mentioned once before that fighting against a Miraculous user wasn't normal, so are these things part of what they normally fight?" Queen Bee asked as Chat Noir nodded and looked down the tunnels and frowned. _So we have to keep moving and hope we can find the others as we protect these people, once we've reached the top we go can back for more of them and slip away and tell the others 'I' was saved by Chat Noir and 'he' sent me towards the surface while 'he' back to make sure the others were safe._ Chat Noir thought as he looked around the tunnels trying to figure out how they would get out only for him to notice a black glowing arrow on the wall.

Queen Bee followed Chat's gaze and saw the same thing and felt Pollen stare thought their shared eyes, a sense of pain and sorrow. _Pollen, what is that and why do you feel that way?_ Queen Bee sent to Pollen as she waited for a replay. _**My last chosen, she made that mark when we were down here last, follow the arrow backwards and we'll make it to the surface, please don't ask me more now.**_Pollen sent before going silent. Queen Bee was concerned about what her partner was feeling but she looked at the people behind him and smiled reassuringly. Chat grinned and looked at them, his own kwami having told him the same and sent a reassuring smile at the scared tourists.

"Follow us, with luck we'll get you people up to the next level and back onto the surface soon!" Chat Noir said as the people looked at the two superheroes with relief. As Queen Been lead the way she thought she felt something from Pollen as they looked around the area, a sense of pain that she couldn't understand.

Nino ran down the tunnel with Alya following as they tried to get away from the spiders, cursing that they had run off on their own and that Adrien and Marinette weren't with them. The two of them were running so fast and reaching for all the endurance that they could reach that they reached _beyond_. Nino ran and gritted his teeth, his thoughts racing. _Man it's so bad that those things attacked us like that; I guess those things are the cause of the hole we fell down. I hope Mari and Adrien are okay….wait? Why did Alya volunteer Mari to sit in the back and not next to Adrien? We've been trying to set them up for months!_ Nino thought as a look of shock came over his face. He was so shocked as he went over the way he had acted for the last two weeks that he never noticed for a second a strange chill had gone through his body before cooling down.

Alya ran after Nino, hoping that her friends would be okay. _If only I had Trixx with me and Nino had Wayzz I could cast an illusion that caused the spiders to jump over the cliff and Carapace could have blocked the tunnel so the others could have gotten away. I hope Mari is okay, that girl is one of….why the hell did I give her send her to the back and give Nino's seat to Lila? And why do we believe her lies so much?!_ Alya thought as a what the fuck look came over her face before she started to get angry at herself, her anger keeping her from noticing the way her body heated up. The two of them gained confused looks as they stopped at a tunnel that slopped downward. Nino looked at it in shock that they had gone the wrong way and Alya exploded.

"Great! We ran down the wrong tunnel! We have to go back and hope that the spiders are gone! Oh man o man I hope Marinette went the right way, of course I have to have a bad sense of direction just like how gullible I am!" Alya said as she kicked a wall and a few tears leaked out of her eyes. Nino looked at her and his eyes softened at understanding hit him.

"You're talking about how we treated Marinette recently aren't you baby?" Nino asked softly as he looked at her. She looked at him with such a look of self-loathing as tears came from her eyes. Nino walked to her and hugged her, Alya returning it as she buried her head into his shoulder. Nino just held her and let you her and tried to keep an ear for anything that might come down the tunnel after them.

"Shhoo, Alya it'll be okay, we'll fix this." Nino promised as Alya looked at him with a sorrowful look on her face as tears leaked from her eyes.

"How Nino, we sent Marinette to the back of the class, missed a perfect chance for Marinette to sit next to Adrien and how we've treated her for the last two weeks, I can't remember why the hell we did any of that!" Alya said as she closed her eyes. Nino rubbed her back and looked back down the tunnel and hoped he was seeing things when he thought he saw something in the darkness. He got out of the hug and pulled her back the way they had come, a smile on his on face.

"For now we have to survive, we can find a way to make it up to her later!" Nino said with a smirk as they ran, hoping that they wouldn't run into anything. Alya looked at Nino before she looked into the darkness, a scowl on her face. _Girl you'd better be okay or I'll slaughter anything that hurt you. I will make up for how I've been treating you._ Alya thought as she and Nino ran back the way they had come.

Juleka looked down at one of the spiders Ivan had defeated as her summoned Aqua Trickster leaned him against the wall, stepping back to let Mylène look him over. Rose looked on confused as Mylène look over Ivan to make sure he was okay. _Okay his pulse is stable; his only has a few scraps and their not bleeding, so he's just unconscious, why?_ Mylène thought as she put her hand on his head to check his temperature.

"Since when did you have first aid training?" Rose asked as she watched Mylène check Ivan's pulse and look over his exposed skin.

"Dad was worried about everything that's been happening since. Well it started that mom was able to talk him down from having me change schools to having me learn how to help in emergencies." Mylène said as she finished her examination and turned towards Auqa Trickster and Juleka who was standing by the dead spiders, looking them over.

"I guess we have to talk to her about what that is and how she did what she did, don't we?" Mylène asked as Rose looked at her _friend_. _Mylène is right, we need to talk and about what happened to Ivan as well, she stared at him when she saw that aura around him like she knew what it was._ Rose thought as she watched Juleka look over the spiders and hoped she found what she was looking for.

as she looked around with a bemused expression on her face as she crouched down and looked at the spider's corpses lying about and poked at one. _Okay a Kaiju would have been drawn back across the Veil by now so this isn't one of them. An Akuma maybe, but who drew his attention underground, or did it go underground, hell Aurore said in her interview that it came through the walls to get her so why not stone? _Juleka thought as Rose walked away from Mylène and towards her. Juleka looked up as Rose reached her and only stared at her friend. Rose started to speak but stopped and Juleka sighed before she started to speak.

"What you saw me do, it shocked you didn't it?" Juleka said as she looked at Rose and smiled bitterly. Rose looked at her and nodded once. Juleka just sighed and looked at Ivan and mentally went over how hard it would be to move Ivan and looked upwards. _ He should only be out for a few more minutes at best, he'll be weak but we'll be able to move. I guess bro was right, people who have been turned into Akuma can awaken their Mana easier, that makes things worrisome._ Juleka thought as she shot a glance at Ivan before looking at Rose and soften her smile.

"Yeah, and I'm wondering why you never showed you could do it before now, I mean with all the Akumas." Rose said as Juleka chuckled lightly before looking upwards.

"I guess I was scared, not of you guys really but if some of you were one of **them**. And I'm still not sure that Sabrina isn't." Juleka muttered as she crossed her arms and looked down.

"Sabrina, what does she have to do with anything?" Rose asked with a confused tone to her voice. Juleka was about to say something when her head snapped to the left and turned towards a tunnel and moved closer to it, the Aqua Trickster moving to stand behind her. Juleka signaled the others to gather around Ivan and clenched her fists.

"WHO'S THERE?" She called down the tunnel as the Aqua Trickster readied itself to jump in front of her and attack.

"JULEKA, IT THAT YOU? IT'S NINO AND ALYA!" A voice called out as they all heard two people running towards them. Acting fast Juleka banished her Aqua Trickster moments before Nino and Alya came out of the passage way. Alya grabbed Juleka and smiled.

"Thank god you're all okay, when those things attacked us Nino and I just ran until we realized that choose the wrong one! What about you guys?" Alya said as she looked around and notice Ivan unconscious against a wall.

"We ran and hid from those things, thankfully we lost them, we came back to find Ivan down and we're waiting for him to wake back up before we move, I mean we can't carry him, he's too big." Juleka said as Nino and Alyla looked at the others, a low moan caused them to look and saw Ivan struggle back to conciseness and standing up, blinking as he looked at them with eyes that were partly glazed over as he leaned against the wall Mylène hugged him and he gave her a weak smile.

"I'm…not…that big." Ivan said as he looked at the others before Mylène started to hit his chest with her fists. Ivan winced as the others looked on and Juleka looked conflicted as she looked around, wondering if she had seen what she thought she had.

"What were you thinking, were you even thinking!?" Mylène demanded as Ivan winced. _I deserve that I guess, but I had to protect her, I don't care how she feels about it as long as she's safe._ Ivan thought as he held her as she stopped hitting him and just leaned against him.

"That if something was following us I couldn't let it get to you, and that I finally had a reason to give those boxing lessons my mom made me take after I became an Akuma a good use?" Ivan said as Nino walked over to him and helped Mylène keep him steady as they walked towards the tunnels.

"Dude, next time you think to do a last stand, think again." Nino said as Ivan pushed him off and took a shaky step forward only for the next to be solid and he nodded back at Nino as Mylène looked on with concern.

"Yeah, always have a way out." Ivan said as the group looked around. Alya looked around at the floor and noticed drag marks, Nino followed her eyes and gained a worried look on his face as he tried to look about.

"What happened to Malcolm and Miss Bustier?" Nino asked as Ivan only looked regretful as he answered.

"It was crazy, it was all I could do just to look after myself, after a few seconds I lost track of them and when I looked up from throwing one off me I was alone, I passed out a bit later." Ivan said as Alya followed the tracks. She stopped in front of a tunnel with no marks above it and frowned. _So is the Akuma is somewhere on the next level, why I mean how does Hawkmoth plan to draw in Ladybug and Chat Noir, are we supposed to escape, some of us at least? Nothing about this makes any kind of sense, we need to get out of here and get help._ Alya thought as she looked back at the others.

"Okay he said that we need to go up the tunnel with the blue arrow. I think Miss Bustier and Malcolm weredragged down that tunnel so we need to get help so let's go through this one." Alya said as she pointed at one of the tunnels, finally finding the mark they needed, Alya led the way up the tunnel, hoping they would be able to make it to the surface in one piece. _Baby just led the way, I'll guard the back. You'll get out of this alive and make up with Marinette if I have anything to say about it._ Nino thought as he looked over his shoulder as he followed after them, not hearing anything but hoping that he wasn't missing anything at all.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Galen looked at the carnage around him with an indifferent look on his face, pleased that his plan had worked so well but not really concerned with the results. As the corpses of the spiders that had chased him down the tunnel leaked their strange blood he looked on with a superior smirk on his face. _I knew activating a Lure charm would bring them to me. To think there are such wonders in this city, I can't wait to see what I can make from these things. And that weapon of mine is really good down here._ Galen thought as he looked at the Darkness Creature he had summoned to kill the spiders. A zombie, it had a black humanoid torso that connected by its spine to its hips where its spine turned into a tail ending in a point, its powerful looking legs ending in talons and it had three arms on each of its sides ending in four sharp claws each. Its golden head had three fangs and it looked out with empty eye sockets as it tried to see if there was any movement from its prey.

"And the family wonders why I like to use Gaunt Boneweaver, why that can't see that it has that sense of slaughter that makes the kill so satisfying." Galen said as he looked down at the corpses and picked up a severed leg and smiled as he reached for a chain around his neck, removing a black hexagon with a white pearl set in the center. As his hand started to glow white a beam shot out and covered the leg, the leg soon disappeared and he put the necklace back under his clothing and walked towards the end of the tunnel, his Creature following behind him. _All I need to do now is find the others or a way to the surface and I'm golden. _Galen thought as he smirked as he moved along. He looked back the way he had come and wondered about the valley in the cavern he had seen on the ledge; something about it sparked a memory. He looked about and shrugged, he'd remember it later if it was important, if not then it wasn't.

He moved forwards and sighed when he saw that he had gone down a descending tunnel instead of an ascending one and walked out into the floor of the 'Base' and looked around and upwards, part of him hoping to find a clue to where the spiders had been coming from, hoping to kill them at the source. As he walked towards another tunnel he looked around at the various structures and frowned when he saw that the buildings up close.

Walking towards one of them he frowned when he looked at it and looked at the others. Peering thought one of the windows he saw a small table and a two bunk beds. Looking about he tried to think about why this place was bothering him. Looking about the cavern he walked towards the river and looked towards where the water was coming from and frowned._ What is it about this place, I know it but where do I know it from._ Galen thought as he looked about he saw a tunnel was boarded up and sent a mental command to destroy the boards to his Bone Assassin. After the way was cleared he entered the tunnel and stopped when he reached a small chamber. Looking around he chuckled a little and nodded, dropping three glowing charms onto the floor he turned and left.

"So that's why it bothered me, this must have been in one of grandfather's stories." Galen said out loud as he looked at a grave marker with the sign of the SSS on it. Walking out of the tunnel he stopped and started to smirk as he looked around and saw at least twenty of the spider things that had attacked him. Through his control of Bone Assassin he felt its bloodlust start to simmer and he flexed his hands, summoning a glow around them before two gladius swords appeared as he looked at the spiders as they slowly came towards him and his Kaiju.

"Oh, this is wonderful. If living here is going to be like this then I am so glad I moved. Well you unthinking things, let's dance!" He cackled as he ran at them, his Kaiju running alongside him. As his blades bit into the chitin of the spiders as they met a crazed gleam came into his eyes as the blood flew as Gaunt Boneweaver sliced with its arms. He watched the spiders try to swarm the Darkness Kaiju and commanded it to jump as Galen moved backwards, hoping to see their reactions. As the Darkness Kaiju jumped upwards the spiders just stopped moving before turning to face Galen only to turn when Gaunt Boneweaver landed and slashed out at the spiders. _Okay, so these things are dumb, really dumb, so then they're not Kaijus, maybe their control by a Kaiju. And there are about ten of them left, em kill and let the old man see what I took from the others and he can decide what they are._ Galen thought as he struck out at another of the spiders. For the next few seconds there was just carnage and when he had no more opponents to fight he stood and breathed heavily as he stood amongst the carnage. Galen looked around and seeing nothing moving he sighed and stood still as a black glow covered his blades and consumed them.

"No more targets to kill, oh well time to leave then." He said as he looked at the tunnels and noticed one marked with an upwards arrow and walked towards it with a smile on his face, confident that he had beaten back all the monstrosities that were hunting him for now. _I wonder if these things were in any way similar to the so called 'Akuma'? No bad idea, their victims and any strange deaths might alert the local 'heroes' to the fact something new is in town._ Galen thought as he walked up the tunnel.

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Lili ran with Kim, Alix and Nathaniel following behind her. _Okay I have a few meat shields and maybe I can nurture them into useful tools._ Lili thought as she looked back at the three she was leading. They had made it up to the second level and were following the cables and so far they had been luck not to run into anything. Kim had slowed down and was looking behind them, Alix noticed and grabbed his arm to pull him along.

"Keep moving Kim, the best thing to do is to get help!" Alix said as Kim tried to keep up with her so he wouldn't fall.

"But the others, we just abandoned them!" Kim said as he looked ashamed of himself as they ran. _Lila just pulled the three of us when those things attacked us, I get why she did it but I should have stayed and helped Ivan, I mean I was an Akuma I have a little bit of karma to pay back!_ Kim thought as he let himself be pulled along, feel a little shame as he did so, as he looked back he never noticed Lila seemed to be paying attention to what he said.

Lila tried to think how she could calm him down so whatever was hunting in these tunnels wouldn't hear him. _Why does that idiot have to make such a racket! So he has a sense of responsibility then, good, I can use that._ Lila thought as she tried to think about what to say to keep him moving.

"The best thing we can do is to get help for the others; we can't save anyone unless we make sure we're safe first, first thing my dad taught me and my brother when we first went on a dig with him." Alix said as she looked about, trying to see if anything was following them, a slight pause in her steps barely noticeable.

Lila looked ahead and saw a ladder leading up and smiled. _This is the second level so once I'm up there we just have to get to the exit and I'm safe._ Lila thought with a smirk but turned when she heard a sound echo off the walls. As the others looked around Lila grabbed Kim and pushed him at the ladder.

"GO KIM, You'll have the easiest time getting the top open!" She called as Kim stalled at before he started to climb, Alix and Nathaniel looking back the way they had come from as Lila looked around and tried to find any sign of that the spiders were coming towards them.

Kim climbed and gritted his teach as he reached the top and discovered the cover was in shadows, barely being able to make it out. Reaching up with his right hand he found what he thought was a lock and turned it and pushed it out of the way and smiled when he saw light past the hole he opened. As Alix climbed up and Nathaniel went after her and Lila was about to start climbing when she heard something move in the darkness and turned and thought she could see something moving in the blackness.She rushed to the ladder and went up after him and as she moved through the hole she felt something hit her back and when she was pulled back Kim and Alix pulled her through the hole and Nathaniel slammed the covering back into place, locking it and shredding the line that had hit Lila.

"So like I said, we after to take care of ourselves first and only then can we help others." Alix said as she panted from the strain of pulling Lila through the hole. Nathaniel was about to say something when he felt something push against the cover violently and he barely pushed it back into place before the others had helped hold it down as something tried to push them off.

"LOCK IT, LOCK IT NOW!" Lila cried as Nathaniel locked the cover as the cover bucked against the lock and after a few minutes the bucking died down and they heard the sounds of something striking the cover before that to stopped. As the four teens looked at each other Lila did everything she could to keep a smirk off her face._ With luck these things will deal with Cheng for me. And if Adrien feels bad about that I can comfort him and hopefully score a few points._ Lila thought as she looked at the others and planned how to use this to her advantage.

"Now we need to find the best route to the exit so we can tell people about what happened and they can send help." Lila said as the others nodded and looked around and Kim noticed a sign a few feet away.

"Over there, the exit is that way!" Kim said as he pointed towards a bend to the right farther down the tunnel. Alix smirked before suddenly looking down at the cover with concern, an action that Lila saw and put her hand on Alix's shoulder before speaking.

"Yeah, I can guess what's on your mind Alix, you guys go first and I'll unlock this so the others can go through this two, but you guys should be at the turn, go." Lila said as she reached for the lock. As they three teens walked off Alix fought down her instincts to look back at Lila as she moved. A few seconds later they heard Lila cry out and she ran towards them with a scared look on her face.

"RUN, those things were waiting for me to unlock it, we've got to move!" Lila cried as she ran past them, the others running after her. As Alix ran she missed a step when she couldn't hear anything behind them before she regained her balance and increased her speed._ She's lying about something, I don't know what but I know she's lying, wait…has she always been lying? God I feel so stupid! She's been playing us since day one, well guess what bitch, this time I'm onto you!_ Alix thought as she kept pace with Nathenial and Kim, hoping her friends would be okay down below. Lila was far enough ahead that the others never saw the evil smirk on her face, happy that she had kept the cover locked into place and hoping the spiders would deal with at least one of her _problems_.

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As the heroes led the way through the tunnels Queen Bee hid a frown from the civilians as they moved. Pollen had been cagy about the marks and why she and her chosen had been down here. _Pollen, I can feel something is wrong, please you can trust me._ Queen Bee thought as she looked around, Pollen remanded silent and Queen Bee just worried about her friend.

"She's being silent, hu?" Cat Noir asked softly prompting Queen Bee to turn her head and nodded at him. Cat only sighed and looked ahead of them as they led the way through the darkness as he tried to keep his sense straining for any signs of anything coming towards them. Queen Bee just nodded as she looked towards the down the tunnel.

"Yeah, yours too?" She asked as he nodded and looked around and frowned. _Pollen's never acted like this before, why is she so quiet, what could have happened down here?_ Queen Bee thought as she looked at Chat Noir as he sighed.

"Yes, and someplace like this where I'm using his abilities he would normally be talking up a storm, but he's oddly silent. He still is." Chat Noir said as Queen Bee sighed and looked ahead. **Sorry kids but if Buzz Girl doesn't want to say anything about Bel then I won't either.** Plagg thought as he listened, feeling horrible but keeping silent about what was bothering Pollen. He mentally _sighed_ and went _still_ when he realized where they were going.

Queen Bee went still when she felt such a stab of pain and loss as they turned a corner and saw a particular section of the tunnel ahead with cracks in one wall and what looked like bullet holes here and there. As she stood there she started to feel a liquid on her face and brought a hand up and realized that Pollen was crying through her._ No more secrets Pollen, please tell me what's wrong._ Queen Bee sent to Pollen and she finally responded. _**Chloe, this is….**_Pollen began before a sound ahead of them caused Chat Noir's ears to flatten to his head as Queen Bee drew her fan and looked into the darkness as the people behind them gathered together and stared into the darkness.

From the darkness of the tunnels four of the spiders charged at them! Chat Noir stared to spin his staff as he backed up as Queen Bee sliced at any of them that got by them. _Come on think, Adrien, think! What can we do, wait there was a side tunnel a bit farther back, good! We can defend them there at least!_ Chat Noir thought as he backed up and shot a quick glance at Queen Bee as she sliced off one of the attacking spider's front legs.

"Back to the last passage, we'll hold them there!" He cried to the tourists as they moved backwards. Queen Bee sliced at one the spiders as the group ran back away from the two heroes as they fought off their attackers.

"Good plan, but how do we deal with any help these things have?" Queen Bee asked as they moved backwards as they fought. The spider she had cut the leg away from had scurried into the darkness and the other three were trying to come at them and as Chat fended them off he winced._ She's right, these things could have reinforcements, did I seriously worry about __**spiders **__having reinforcements? Have to hope that tunnel doesn't end._ Chat Noir thought as he back up, keeping his eyes on the three spiders and striking at any of them that tried to come at him. As they moved back he tried to listen to anything behind him, hoping that the spiders didn't have any help coming. Chat saw three more coming towards from behind the other spiders and gritted his teeth. _**Kid listen, you can't use Cataclysm, but if you can get those people away from us then I can show you how to get some help!**_Plagg sent as he watched through Adrien's eyes. Chat gritted his teeth and saw the people

"Queen, get them out of here! I'll hold them as long as I can, get Ladybug!" Chat said as he charged at the spiders and slamed his staff into them as Queen Bee herded the people away and around the next corner.

"Stay alive tomcat!" Her voice echoed off the tunnels as Chat Noir looked at the spiders and scowled as he heard the sound of more of the spiders coming towards him._ Okay Plagg what do I do? _Chat thought as he slew another spider and saw three more coming towards him. _**This partner.**_ Plagg said as he sent a burst of information to Chat. Chat Noir dropped his staff and suddenly did a kata as his hands glowed.

"_Sabercat of Corrosive Abyss_!" Chat cried as a portal appeared in front of him and a five foot tall black feline with two gleaming saber like fangs and a reptilian like tail landed on the floor of the tunnel and slashed out with its claws, slicing into one of the spiders as it bit into another of them. Chat stared as he picked up his staff and watched as it killed the last of the spiders before it walked to him and sniffed him before purring and rubbing Chat's thigh._ Plagg, what is this?_ Chat though as he scratched it under its chin._**Chat Noir's partner Kaiju kit, a Sabercat of Corrosive Abyss, or as my previous chosen have called him Twin Fang Sabercat, or Twin Fang for short. And I'll explain after we track down whatever is behind this.**_ Plagg sent as Chat looked around and turned towards where the spiders had come from and looked at Twin Fang and smirked. _Well he's not bugaboo but he's almost as good! While Queen Bee guards them I can hunt down the spider's boss and hopefully buy some time._ Chat thought as he looked into the darkness before looking where Queen Bee had run off with the civilians, before he looked at where the spiders had come from.

"Well Twin Fang, up for a hunt?" Chat asked as the cat purred before Chat dashed into the darkness with it following behind him._ Sorry Queenie, but you have to hold the line, I need to buy time for Ladybug to hear about this or take the fight to the surface._ Chat thought as he dashed away from the others.

Queen Bee ushered the people down the passage way and smiled when she saw a ladder up ahead._ Just have to get them there and hope there's not a kill zone set up, oh why did I have to jinx this when I thought nothing would happen since that bastard usually takes a few days between attacks. _Queen Bee Thought as she lead the way towards the ladder before someone pushed her aside in his panic to reach it.

"There, that's the way to the next level, move!" The tourist who pushed her cried as he rushed to the ladder and started to climb. Queen Bee glared at him and looked around the area, hoping his voice hadn't attracted any problems. She snapped her head upwards when she heard him start to curse.

"It's locked, why the hell is it locked?! Of all the stupid idiotic…." He cried, starting to curse and scream as the people looked about and one of them hissed to the man on the ladder.

"They'll hear you shut up!" She hissed only for the man to scowl down at them with a glare. His face went red before he started to scream down at them.

"SPIDERS CAN'T HEAR YOU STUPID IDIOT! IF THEY COULD THEN I SAY LET THEM TAKE ME RIGHT NOW!" He bellowed just before a line of webbing hit him and pulled him into the darkness behind him. Before one could react more webbing shot out of the darkness and grabbed the other tourists and Queen Bee stood alone. She raised her fan and opened it as she looked into the darkness, trying to find anything that might attack her, suddenly she jumped up words spinning as webbing hit where she was standing, she spun and slashed with her fan at lines of webbing that shot at her and at the top of her jump she pushed off the ladder and shot into the darkness, landing next to a spider her, fan sliced it's head off and she moved into a tunnel, following after the drag marks on the floor as she ran._ Gotta follow them, gotta find out where their taking their captives. Nothing about this makes sense, who did Hawkmarth turn, somebody who could already do this, is this what normal Miraculus users fight Pollen?_ Queen Bee thought as she moved, not noticing that her eyes were glowing white as she ran._**Yes, people who abuse mana are what we normally fight, and I tell you about it later.**_ Pollen sent causing Queen Bee to wonder just what her predictors had battle.

She ran into a gallery with webs all over the room with pulsing sacks here and there, thankfully the sacks weren't big or wide enough for a human to be in even if they crouched down and walked towards one and slashed it open with her fan. What fell from it was a half formed spider that caused Queen Bee to step backwards and stare down at it before she looked around with a frown as she tried to count the sacks._ There have to be at least thirty of these things, what could have made this and are more chambers? Oh Pollen what do I do?_ Queen Bee thought as she tried to figure out just what she could do when she felt a reassurance from her partner._** This is unlike anything I've ever seen before; we need to tell the others about this the next time we patrol. But to handle this is easy, you do this.**_ Pollen sent and Queen Bee went still before she felt information flow from her partner and suddenly moved her arms and feet and cried out.

"Deathblade Beetle! She cried as a green portal appeared before something jumped through it and stood before her. It was a large, about five foot tall with blue chitin and three legs on both side with spikes above what looked like hoofs. It had two pincer that ended in red hooks with one on each side of its body just below its face and eyes with a horn pointing downward with a spike ending in a point. It walked towards her and buzzed as it looked at her. She slowly reached out and rubbed its head above its eyes and it seemed to vibrate with pleasure._ Pollen, what is this, what did I do?_ Queen Bee thought as she looked at the….bug?... as it looked around. _**That's Deathblade Beetle, a Kaiju of the Nature Civilization, it's a Mega Bug and you summoned it. Your will directs it and it will fight until it's damaged enough to be sent back.**_ Pollen sent as Deathblade Beetle bit at the one of the webs, Queen Bee just looked at it and smirked.

"Okay Deathblade lets destroy those cocoons!" She cried as she started to slash at the cocoons in reach

"SCRRR!" Deathblade Beetle screeched before it opened its mouth and shot a blast of white energy at one of the cocoons, setting it aflame. Queen Bee moved backwards as the entire web caught fire and through the light of the burning web she saw a line of fire go down a tunnel.

"Follow the burning web Deathblade, let's find their lair!" Queen Bee said as she ran, the Deathblade Beetle following behind her, a hope burning in her that the webs weren't connected to the people held captive._ I can only hope that someone gets to the surface and Ladybug finds out about what happening down her, we need her! _Queen Bee thought as she followed the line of fire, hoping that the civilians were safe.

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Malcolm came back to conciseness and tried to move but realized he was stuck. _What happened, the last thing I remember that teacher and her student, we were standing against those things to buy the others time. Someone said that there were more of them coming up the cliff and then I turned my head and I felt a prick and then… _He looked up as he struggled back to conciseness and looked around. He was tied to a wall by a black web like material in a dark room. He tried to get off the wall and cursed when he felt himself held tight to the wall and could barely move a centimeter. He heard low moans and looking around he saw others tied to the wall, the darkness only letting him see that there were people there but not who there were. He thought he saw Miss Bustier next to him and tried to get her attention.

"Hey, hey teacher lady, wake up!" Malcolm said softly as he tried to get her to hear him. After a few seconds Miss Bustier started to come to and blinked her eyes as she tried to understand where she was. As she tried to move her limbs she remembered standing with Malcolm and Ivan when those things had attacked them and a pain in her right shoulder before her vision went away and she was knocked out. She realized she was locked into place and felt something holding her to the wall. She moved her head and notice that her class was tied against the wall and noticed that Malcolm was tied next to her.

"Mr. Malcolm, so then those things got us?" Miss Bustier asked as nodded at her and tried to remember anything that could tell where he was and stopped when he saw a pipe near the middle of the room._ If that's then were there….how did this place become those things base, why did they bring us here alive?_ Malcom thought as he looked at her and locked eyes with her.

"I think we're around the first level of the catacombs just below the sewers. If we can get out of this then we can get these people out safely….wait something's coming. Go dead." Malcolm said as he went still and put his head down. A few moments later sound of clicking feet heralded the arrival of five spiders carrying five bodies cocooned in webbing. A few seconds later the spiders left after putting the cocoons against the webs on the wall. Malcolm risked a look at the things and was able to see that the spiders paid no attention to their victims and moved away from the room, leaving them alone.

"Well can you get down?" Malcolm asked only for Miss Bustier to shake her head after she tried to move her body and he started to curse.

"How the hell is this so strong, I mean I can break spider web with my pinkie finger!" Malcolm said as Miss Bustier looked on.

"It's said that spider web is very sturdy for its density. I think I read an article once a few years ago that some defense combines were trying to study it to create body armor." She said as Malcolm looked at her before he sank and stopped struggling.

"Ohhh. Did anyone get the ID for that star cruiser?" A voice asked causing the two of them to look and notice Max was across from them and waking up.

"Max, are you okay?" Miss Bustier asked as Max tried to get down and only looked at what was holding him in place.

"Spider web, size and density would keep us from getting down on our own, but why are the others still out?" Max asked causing the two adults to look and notice that the other people were still unconscious but they turned towards Max who ahhed and looked at Malcolm with a hard look in his eyes.

"If the Miss Bustier and I are both awake then I can only deduce one thing we have in common, but you I'm not sure off. But given your trapped too then you aren't Hawkmoth so I have to ask, when were you an Akuma?" Max asked point blank as Malcolm looked around the room and started to curse when he realized what he was seeing.

"When was I an Akuma?" Malcolm asked before he closed his eyes and took a deep breath before Max felt _something_ pass over him and Malcolm opened his eyes._ I was right there mana is higher than normal, just on the edge of breaking through to active. And this webbing, its draining at such a low level that the only….then…whatever set this up is going for quantity._ Malcolm thought as he tried to think of any way to get free and coming up with nothing.

"I've never been an Akuma; maybe I'm just lucky?" Malcolm said as Max looked at him with an inquisitive look in his eye._ That thing I sensed, he had to have been the source. When we get out of here I think I'll have Markov looking into his digital footprint._ Max thought as Miss Bustier looked at her student and hid a frown as she saw the look in his eyes as Malcolm tried to get out of the webs, promising that she should have a talk with him later. As Malcolm felt the tiny drain of his mana he couldn't help but wonder just what who or what wanted to have gone through all this trouble for, what the end game it was after was. Suddenly the drain grew larger and he had a minute before he passed out just after Max and Miss Bustier did.

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In the darkness lit only by a white glow from a few sources three of them suddenly lite up and cast a stronger light, the glow were from three crystals with a soft light source that grew brighter, as the glow intensified a feminine laughter to echo through the darkness.

"Oh I don't know why those three can handle a greater drain but I love it! A few more minutes and I'll have my first two filled! Oh my lady will be so happy with what I've gotten! To think that we were worried that the growth would do to going beyond the Veil, but to have it made it to have lead me to a place like this with such wonderful décor nearby, oh thank you my Queen." The voice sighed as the click of chitin was heard as something walked around the chamber at the edge of the light. _Oh perfect all I need to do is to make my quota and I'll be one of the Lady's most favored in no time. I will prove my research and one day soon I'll have a territory and be able to leave the Academy!_ The figure thought as it walked around the crystals just at the edge of the glow.

"Oh if those humans are such a great source of mana, maybe once I have a force strong enough and they know to leave me alone I wonder if I should send a few scouts up and see _who_ they could bring back!" The voice said with a laugh in its voice until it stopped abruptly. A glow from the right side heralded the sounds of the legs moving towards the light and into another room. The room had four cauldron-like masses of silk webbing space around the room with each had white glowing liquid in them with three lines from each moving into the darkness. One of them had caught fire. The flame had come from one of the lines of webbing and suddenly the other two caught fire and the flames shot away down the lines before the figure in the entrance could react.

"Who dares to kill my babies, who are the dead that I will hunt down! Wait calm down dear; so one of my gathers birthing sites is destroyed, that means they have to be near it, or are they coming towards me? I think I'll do both, send some to that place and have the rest come to me." The voice said as a chitin covered leg reached towards one of the three remaining cauldrons and touched it, sending its orders to those born of this one.

"Go my children hear my voice! Hunt down those in the tunnels and the dark, bring them to me now!" The figure said as the clicking of its legs moved back towards the other room. _But while this happens perhaps I should make sure that my prize won't be lost if does beat me, I don't want this to have been for nothing after all._ She thought as moved towards the crystals. The figure stopped and put its hand into one of the cauldrons and started to chuckle.

"So one is ready, perhaps I should see if the results are ready." It muttered as a line of light passed down a silk line into the darkness.

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Juleka looked around and gestured for the others to follow her. She had gone ahead with Alya to scout the front while Ivan had been guarding the rear and so far they had made it to the next level and were close to the way up, she could feel it.

"So, these things are something else right? I really don't think they're an Akuma's minions." Alya said quietly as they looked around a corner, on the lookout for any of the spiders. Juleka looked at Alya and frowned.

"Going to put that up on your blog then?" Juleka asked as Alya only looked away with a look of shame on her face.

"I think I need to see what the heroes say first, I haven't had good judgment lately." Alya said as Juleka looked at her as she gestured to the others to move and whispered to her.

"You mean Lila and her lies, don't you?" Juleka asked as the others moved towards them, sending a look at Alya as she gestured for the group to move to where she was as she moved towards the next spot to check for spiders. Alya stood still for a few seconds before following after Juleka and grabbed her arm.

"You knew she was lying, why didn't you say anything about it?!" Alya demanded softly before backing off at the look in Juleka's eyes stared in shock at the hard and angry look Juleka had adopted.

"Because the last time somebody used something like what she's using, she almost killed me, hurt my dad enough that it probably helped him die and almost made me kill my brother with a smile on my face." Juleka said in a dead tone as Alya just looked at her in total shock and horror. _I have to talk to her about that, if she's right then Lila is a lot worse than I thought. _ Alya thought as she just stared into space for a few seconds as she tried to wrap her head around just what she had been told and shook her head as she followed after Juleka. They peered into a chamber with three more entrances and lights on the top with power cables going into the tunnel opposite them but before Juleka could walk into the chamber Alya suddenly threw out a hand out and dragged Juleka back a few feet as a spider walked past them and pushed her against the wall as the spider looked around and after a few seconds later the spider turned and moved into the left tunnel away from the group.

Alya gestured for Juleka to not move and looked down at the ground._ Okay, time for all those lessons dad gave to finally be put to use. Okay the tracks are….only these, is it making a patrol? How could it walk on the same steps each time?_ Alya thought as she looked around the room and dashed across it to the other side and looked around and seeing no tracks she was about to go back to Juleka when she heard the sound of the spider returning and hid on the other side as the spider passed by and stopped for a moment and looked at the ground before moving on after a few seconds. Alya watched the spider and saw a mark on its back as it moved into the tunnel to the right and after it left her sight she dashed back to Juleka who had a look on her face that filled Alya with dread.

"I think that wasn't the spider we saw before; if more are patrolling around her then we have to move fast!" Juleka said softly as Alya looked into the tunnel across from them and bit her lip. _ Okay, we could go back and try and find a different way, but if more of those things are there….no choice really, hero time. I'll go and try to scout ahead; hopefully I'll find a way to the upper levels._ Alya thought as she looked into the chamber

"Okay, got get the others and bring them here, I'll run ahead and try and find a way to the next level." Alya said as Juleka looked shocked but sighed and nodded.

Father back Nino looked into the darkness around them and was sure he heard something moving within a side tunnel. He grabbed Ivan's shoulder and gestured to the tunnel and Ivan nodded at him and moved towards it slowly, not letting the girls know and Nino suddenly lunged for the tunnel and pulled Galen out of it with his hand over Galen's mouth. Nino looked at him as Ivan stood between the two of them and the girls who heard the commotion. Nino felt him try to open his mouth and hissed.

"One of those spiders might be nearby; if I move my hands will you stay quite?" Nino felt him nod and let him go and Galen looked at Nino with a look of surprise and respect in his eyes.

"Nice moves kid, so the names Galen and you all are?" Galen asked as the others looked at him before Nino spoke up.

"I'm Nino, that's Ivan, Mylène and Juleka and Alya are ahead of us." Nino said as Galen looked at each of them in turn.

"A pleasure, I just hoped it would have been under better circumstances but a pleasure none the less." Galen said as he nodded to them._ So these people survived and given what I saw when this ill tour started, they go to the same school as Madame Dupain-Cheng, perhaps I can learn more about her from them._ Galen thought as he looked at them and noticed movement behind them all. They turned as they realized Galen was looking over their shoulders and saw Juleka coming towards them quietly but swiftly.

"Alya and I found an intersection, we think we're near a way up but the spiders might be patrolling the area, so we have to move fast, she's gone ahead to scout." Juleka said causing Nino to pale and wince._ So going ahead had to have been because she still feels bad about Marinette and is trying to kill herself to make up for it. But her dad had to teach her tracking so I guess she can use those skills to see if of them are nearby._ Nino thought as he clenched his hands.

"Let's go, I don't want to let her be alone to long." Nino said as he moved past Juleka as the others followed behind him.

Alya moved silently as her father had taught her years ago and smirked._ Never thought I'd put the lessons dad gave me to move in the wild to use underground….Hello!_ Alya thought as she finally found a ladder and smiled. Slowly she moved around the room and after a few minutes of searching she was confident that the spiders hadn't been here. Moving back towards the intersection she had left what felt like hours ago she stopped and waited for the next spider to pass by before she could signal.

After a while she heard the sound of many legs and moments later a group of at least ten spiders moved from the left tunnel to the right tunnel and charged away. _This is insane, what are hell are these things and what were they doing…_ Alya thoughts went still as she looked towards the ground and saw a few drops of a whitish liquid on the ground reflecting the light on the ceiling and she went still as she looked back towards the left tunnel and paled in fear as she realized what they might have stumbled upon. After a few seconds she moved to the opposite tunnel and moved towards the others when she saw Nino coming around a bend ahead of her. Dashing to him she put her hand over his mouth a put her other to her lips and motioned for him to back up. Moving back down the tunnel with a worried look on his face Nino waited until they were back with the others to turn to Alya.

"Babe, what's wrong what'd you see out there." Nino asked as the others waited as Alya looked back towards the way she and Nino had come from.

"Once we start moving we have to be as quite as possible, if I'm right then we're near those things den or nursery." Alya said as the others looked at her and a dark haired teen her age dropped to the ground and Rose dropped down to help him back to his feet.

"Sorry about that, my legs failed me for a few seconds. Let's just say back when I was in England I heard about the time a hunter tracked a bear to its den to ambush it but its cubs and mate was still there, the man lost a good hunting dog." Galen said as he scratched the back of his head.

"My dad told me a story he heard in Africa about a lion in this valley once so yeah but we've gotta move, I don't know how lucky we're going to be." Alya said a few moments before a loud roar echoed off the walls. _That couldn't have been from a spider, no way. This place is getting a lot worse; we have to get out of here while we still can._ Alya thought as she looked over the group and Nino nodded at her.

"Okay Move!" Alya said as she dashed towards the intersection, content on getting out of there alive as the others followed after her, never noticing the glow from two bone charms that Galen had dropped covertly

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Ladybug had dashed towards the screams and came into an empty chamber. She looked around and after a few moments of searching found a few drag marks on the floor that led out of the chamber up a passage way that had a mark indicating that it went to the next level._ Okay those things were sent from maybe the next level or from a building but why, did someone escape from whatever or were they hunting for anything they could get?_ Ladybug thought as she tried to figure out anything that could explain how such large spiders could have been born and suddenly her eyes went wide before she speed off into the darkness._ Remember that documentary Tikki, the one on hunting spiders, how they will bring offerings back for their Queen? Is it possible that, I don't want to even think it._ Ladybug thought as she ran. _**Whoever created these things, I think it was based on Alchemy. If so then like that Alchemist I fought once before they should still have a few instants but the greater danger is if they were all caught for subjects.**_Tikki sent as Ladybug stopped and went still.

Ladybug pales as what Tikki sent went over through her mind and she moved on, trying not to let her thoughts run wild. _As in experiments, Tikki you have to tell me about this person you and one of my predecessors fought later!_ Ladybug thought as she picked up her pace and ran towards down the tunnel. A roar ahead of her caused her to stop for a second before she speed up as she felt Tikki's worry, the same worry she felt when Chat Noir and Plagg were hit by an Akuma's abilities. _You know what made that roar, don't you Tikki?_ Ladybug thought as she ran and waited for a reply from her partner._**Yes, and it's something I didn't think you were ready for yet. But your mana level has been large enough for a few weeks now but I've kept it from you and I'm sorry but since Hawkmoth hasn't escalated and the Peacock hasn't been active I thought we could not risk it.**_Tikki sent as Ladybug charged through the tunnels faster as she realized that it had to be one of her partners and after a few more minutes she finally came into a large chamber. She stood on a cliff face and looked down at Chat Noir and a black feline like creature with saber like fangs fights a group of spiders. She watched as Chat struck with his staff as the feline creature released a cone of black fog that engulfed five of the spiders, one staggered out on shaky legs as it dissolved and fell to the ground before it went still. Chat laughed and slammed his staff into another spider and dodged another spider that threw itself at where he had been standing.

Ladybug drew back into the tunnel and looked towards the opening as she tried to comprehend just what she had seen and started to hyperventilate. _**Calm down Marinette, that's just Twin Fang Sabercat, Plagg must have shown Chat how to summon.**_ Tikki sent as Ladybug looked down at the combat and frowned as the spiders were moving away from something behind where Chat Noir and Twin Fang were fighting; a spider with nine foot tall legs stood back and watched the battle._ That thing's a leader, a controller. We have to take it out before it gets Chat!_ Ladybug thought as she prepeared to move only to find that Tikki sent a yell that caused her to hold her head._**WAIT, just wait okay? If Plagg thinks this needed I'm going to act like he's right for once. Before you do anything summon like this.**_ Tikki sent. Ladybug stood still as the knowledge flow through her and moved her body before crying out.

"Wyvern Scarab!" A red glowing portal formed and from it a six foot tall raptor like bipedal red lizard with two beetle-like wing coverings on its sides with two jewel like objects on the far. Its face was a snout with two ram like horns on the side of with and its tail had a stinger on the end. It looked at her with two green eyes and nodded as Ladybug felt something spark form it to her mind.

"Tikki what is?" Ladybug as she reached forward sand it bared its throat to her and she started to feel Tikki rub its neck through her hands._**This is Wyvern Scarab, one of my Chosen's greatest allies. Whenever we had to move fast or far or needed a line held we called on him. He's a Fire Nature hybrid of an Attack Raptor and a Megabug, I'll explain later.**_Tikki sent as Wyvern Scarab looked at Ladybug and Ladybug smiled. "Let's go Wyvern Scarab." Ladybug said as she led the way.

Chat slashed down with his staff as Twin Fang bit another spider as he watched them fall back, panting a bit as he looked around, his eyes catching the spiders as they hid in the _darkness_. _Have I ever said how I like what you do to my vision when we transform Plagg._ Chat Noir thought as he looked around as Twin Fang looked at the spiders and growled._**Yeah kid but we won't be able to handle this for too long, if those things start fighting smart we're stuck. And that thing is really worrying.**_Plagg sent as Chat Noir fought back a wince as he looked at the larger spider. He had to admit that Plagg was right, in the last two minutes alone the other spiders started to attack smart, striking in tandem and if something wasn't done soon….. Suddenly one of the spiders spat a ling of silk webbing that hit his hands and covered them and his staff. It started to pull his arms to the side as the other spiders moved in.

Before Chat could figure out how to free himself a stream of fire suddenly hit the tall spider from above and engulfed it and the ones standing around it. As the spiders screeched in pain Chat felt the line of silk slacking and looked towards where the fire had come from he saw a red raptor like lizard with fluttering insect wings hover above the spiders and before he knew it Ladybug was beside him strike out with her yoyo severing the silk from his hands and weapon.

"Keep it up Kitty!" She called as she attacked the spiders as the raptor landed and bit one and threw it at another spider. Chat stared for a second before laughing and shot forward as Twin Fang followed behind him. A few minutes of combat later Chat leaned on his staff and looked at Ladybug with a lopsided smirk.

"So my lady did Queenie find you or did you just need to find me?" Chat asked as Twin fang sat down and looked at Wyvern Scarab. Ladybug went still as she tried to think of an excuse that wouldn't expose their identity._** Tell Chat I brought you down here to practice summoning and we heard the roar, they should buy that.**_ Tikki sent as Ladybug fought down a sigh and commanded Wyvern Scarab to come over to her.

"Tikki and I came down here to practice summoning, I thought we would have a few days before the next attack but then I encountered the spiders, did Plagg tell you what they were, wait…. 'Queenie', Queen Bee is here?" Ladybug asked as Chat nodded.

"Yeah, and we need to find where these thing's maker is, and I last saw Queenie leading here leading a group of people to safety as I held the spiders off. I overheard them talk about a class was on the tour with them, think it might be them?" Chat asked as Ladybug released a breath she was holding._ Sorry milady but the fact that sis and I are here with our class isn't something I can tell you, but _

"We've got to find her then and whatever is behind this. We don't know how long these things took to make, if whoever or whatever has long enough who know what they could unleash upon Paris!" Ladybug said as she looked down at the spiders corpses as Chat Noir winced, thinking about all the damage these things could do if enough of them made it to the surface.

Twin Fang sensed Chat's thoughts and moved around sniffing the bodies before he lunged towards one of the tunnels and looked back at them with a hard look in his eyes. Chat felt a sense of confirmation and surety come from something and realized it was from Twin Fang and turned to Ladybug.

"I think Twin Fang's got the scent, shale we hunt my lady?" Chat asked as he grinned. Ladybug smiled back and nodded and within moments all that was in the cavern were the bodies of the slain.

Queen Bee led Deathblade Beatle through the tunnels after the burned silk. So far she hadn't found anything but she was worried that she wouldn't find anything but she had to keep going, she had to find the people that had been taken. _Great Chloe, you try to save their lives and instead they get captured by what you were protecting them from. if Ladybug was here that so wouldn't have happened. _Queen Bee thought as she looked around and tried to find any clue to where the spiders were. After a few seconds Deathblade Beatle started to growl and she looked up and scowled. Ahead of them was the tunnel wall was covered in spider webbing. She looked around and sighed before moving forward, Deathblade Beatle following behind her as they both tried not to touch the webbing, Queen Bee worried that the other spiders might notice if she touched it.

Looking down she followed the line of burnt webbing and notice that whatever had made the webs had taken care not to let them touch the line, leading more confidence to the feeling to stay the hell away from the webs. As she moved through the tunnel she heard something off in the distance. She went still when she saw a spider rush past her five feet away and swore when she heard screams that sounded familiar. Looking back at Deathblade Beatle she wondered if she should have it stay and hold the passage._ If Hawkmoth isn't behind this and he doesn't know about Creatures, and heaven forbid Ayla is over there….Pollen, how far can he hear my mental commands? _ Queen Bee thought as she tried to figure something out._** A mile, that how far you need to be for Deathblade Beatle to hear you.**_Pollen sent to Queen Bee who nodded and drew her fan as she dashed towards the noise, sending a mental command to Deathblade Beatle to follow behind her and watch her back to keep any other spiders from following after her but stay out of sight of anyone human.

Rose reached for a stone as the others tried to beat back the spiders, Alya holding a piece of pipe like a staff as and Ivan kept a spider from getting at Mylène as he defended her while Nino tried to find a way out of where they were. _Just a few more minutes and we would have been out of here, why did these things have to find us now, and why'd they take Juleka and Galen?_ Rose thought as she went over the last few seconds, they had made it up the ladder and then they had come across all those webs, the group had moved slowly towards what they hoped was a way into the sewers when some more of the spiders had attacked them. If she hadn't been standing next to her she wouldn't have noticed that something had grabbed Juleka and she couldn't see Galen either.

"Okay we're almost done with these things; we just need to hold on a little bit longer!" Alya called as she smashed her pipe into another spider as she looked around._ Okay there are about five more of them, we can handle it! _Alya thought as she looked around and paled when she looked towards a tunnel on the far wall and a larger one with red markings on its head came into the chamber.

Ivan looked at the spiders and felt the strange force that had awakened before he had passed out stiring with in him, he didn't think he could bring it out like before but he would go down before those things touched Mylène, this was something he swore. Alya looked at the as it started to stand back as the others and suddenly as the red spider looked at her she felt so scared she felt weak._ Girl get a hold of yourself! What the hell changed…the spider; it's doing something to me!_ Alya thought as she tried to struggle as she realized it. As she looked on as the spiders moved closer to the others the wave of fear died as the red spider suddenly was cut in two. As everyone, even the spiders turned towards the body of the red one, another one of them fell in two as someone jumped into the center of them and spun around in a yellow blur.

As Queen Bee slashed with her weapon she made quick work of the spiders and turned to the others and hid her relief that they were okay.

"Are you all okay? Man I never thought if an Akuma's minion escaped and was able to breed they'd be this bad." Queen Bee said Alya looked at her in shock.

"An Akuma's minion, that's what's behind this?" Alya demanded as she looked at Queen Bee who only looked at her.

"Well what do you think this could be?" Queen Bee asked only for Alya to look at her for a few seconds before the last few minutes went over in her mind before she looked around and suddenly realized that both Juleka and Galen were gone. Rose spoke up before anyone else could say anything.

"I saw something grab Juleka when the spiders attacked, and there was this boy we meet named Galen and he's gone too." Rose said as she looked around with a sorrowful look on her eyes, feeling shame that she hadn't helped Juleka. Queen Bee looked around and tried to figure anything else as they looked around and realized Rose was right.

"We can't leave them!" Nino said as he looked around before Ivan shook his head.

"And we don't know where they went, and if we just wander around we might run into more of those things." Ivan said as he held Mylène as she looked around.

Queen Bee looked around and wondered if there was anything _they_ could do to find them._ Pollen, is there anything we can do._ Queen Bee thought as she tried to figure anything out. _**We can do this Chloe, I was going to start to teach you this on our next patrol but our range isn't the best but we might be able to find where they went.**_ Pollen sent before Queen Bee went still as she suddenly _knew_ what to do.

She closed her eyes and after a few seconds she _felt_ the lifeforce of classmates around her, she felt the remains of the spiders, a corrupted mess that somehow she knew they would cause them to die within the next month. Reaching out she felt more people in a chamber to the east and five more people farther away moving towards a large group moving towards them. She threw her sense out farther and saw two powerful life forces with two creatures, one that seemed darker than anything and the other a kind of insect dragon moving bellow her. She sensed Deathblade Beatle hiding out of sight and felt its worry for her and going out even farther she finally found two life forces being pulled by a spider. She drew her senses back and felt of the people in a chamber nearby growing weaker and echoes of them moving, she followed the echoes and suddenly! She blinked and did everything to keep the shock she felt off her face, what she had just felt, it didn't feel like it was _human_.._ That was what's behind this isn't it Pollen, and those other two have to be Chat and Ladybug, I gotta go help them!_ Queen Bee thought as she looked at the others and smiled.

"Listen, I think I can go get your friends but you need to go that way, I think some people are coming to find out what happened to you all, go tell them the others who were taken are over there, about three hundred feet!" Queen Bee said as she dashed into a tunnel and jumped upward and grabbed onto the top and hide and sent a command to Deathblade to stay as she listened to the others.

"Well let's go dudes." Nino said as he looked after Queen Bee and caught Alya's eyes who nodded when she saw the look in his.

"Nino's right, we need to move now, if people know where the others are then we can save them." Alya said as the others stared at the two of them. Mylène started to speak when Ivan just put his hand on her shoulder and shook his head when she looked at him.

"I can guess you want to look for Juleka and maybe go save the others but we have to move, if more of those things then we need to go and tell them where the others are." Ivan said as he looked down at her and she sighed and nodded at the others. As they moved Nino noticed that Rose hadn't moved and stopped and called to her.

"Rose, come on!" Ninoa said as the others turned and saw that Rose was standing still. Rose shook her head and moved after them and within moments they were running down a tunnel towards where

"Sorry, it's just Queen Bee. How could she have known, just how?" Rose asked as she looked back towards the chamber where Queen Bee had disappeared. Nino shot Alya a look and she nodded and smiled at Rose.

"Probably something to do with her Miraculous, but come one we've gotta move!" Alya said as she pulled Rose along behind her as they moved, picking up speed as the others speed up as moved what they hoped was safety. A few minutes later they saw beams of light ahead and they called out, happy to have made it to safety.

Ladybug and Chat Noir led the way, their two creatures following behind them and Chat frowned as he looked over the webbing in the tunnel as they moved, Ladybug turned to him and noticed the his expression and grew concerned? She turned to him and saw him looking at a

"Chat, what's wrong?" She asked as she stopped and Wyvern Scarab picked up her worry and looked about and started to growl as Twin Fang started to sniff the webs.

"How long do you think whatever's behind this has had to set up shop M'lady?" He asked as he looked around as Twin Fang sent an impression of wetness from the webs to his conciseness. He remembered overhearing from their guide that someone had been missing since the other day and suddenly went still when Twin Fang sent a _death smell_ to him, causing him to go still, the thought that it could have come from any of his friends, or Chloe or Marinette! Without a word he sent the command to find it to Twin Fang and when the Chimera went after the scent he shot a look at Ladybug trying to convoy how serious it was with his eyes.

"Follow us, fast!" Chat said as he dashed after his Creature, Ladybug following after a second with Wyvern Scarab following behind._ I hope Chat's Creature didn't detect anything to bad Tikki!_ Ladybug sent as she followed her partner and went over what Chat had said and frowned as she thought about it._ I heard someone say the tour down here was good last night when some customers were talking when I was at the register so it started last night but so many, how?_ She thought as Chat stopped dead when he turned down a tunnel and his shoulders dropped in shock. She reached him and joined him in staring at what he saw, completely horrified, her state of mind only going worse when Wyvern Scarab sent to her the smell of _death_ that the room stank with.

Twin Fang was nudging a rat, one of many that were in black spider webs. Adrien looked around and after a few seconds he walked to the rat and put his hand on it, shaking his head and he turned to her with a spent look. Ladybug looked around the chamber, taking in all the rats stuck in webs and sighed before looking back at Chat.

"They're all dead aren't they?" She asked rhetorically only for Chat to nod in reply._ Why did whatever's behind this do it Tikki, what did it gain from this?_ She thought as she looked around at all the _corpses_ tied in webs. _**I've seen some terrible ad amazing things over the years but nothing like this, ever.**_ Tikki sent as Wyvern Scarab walked to her and nudged her should as it sensed her feelings. Ladybug looked at it and rubbed its head as she looked around at the bodies of the dead rats and paled as a thought went through her head and turned to Chat Noir.

"Chat, do you think the people who were caught?" She asked shakily as he nodded, the ears on his head going flat against his head as he nodded his head.

"The way escapes me but this has to have a reason, we can figure it out later, now let's just find the civilians." Chat said as Twin Fang started to growl and sent a feeling of accomplishment to Chat. Dashing to Twin Fang he looked down and saw a line of webbing that connected to the main webbing and moved down a tunnel.

"I….Twin Fang can smell something alive in the direction web's going, it might have a clue to why this was done or what's behind this, because it's not an Akuma." Chat said before the two of them nodded at each other and the two heroes and their Creatures followed the line of webbing, Twin Fang leading the way.

Juleka opened her eyes partly and saw tried to remember what had happened and when she realized the drain she was feeling she took a breath and forced her mana to _stay_ and fought against the drain. A deep chuckle echoed around her and she tried to look up but a hand forced her head down.

"Well, well, two Duelists were caught in my trap, one seems to be worth nothing but a simple soldier, but you I think I will keep around, find out everything about your order before I impress you. Wait little duelist, I will use this side of the Veil your group created to strike against all of my foes and conquer the Darkness realm with you as my fist!" A feminine voice said with an arrogant tone as Juleka tried to understand just what it was saying._ Duelist? Created? Then that means! If they survived then that means that they're why people, I have to get out of here and tell Luka and mom, this could be….wait she said 'two Duelists', more than one, was one of the others!_ Juleka thought as she forced her mana deep within her as the figure laughed at her actions. She heard a leg click against the ground and she forced her eyes to look at it and saw pale purple spider legs move in front of her and the voice started to laugh again.

"How long can you do this I wonder, and where did you learn to do so, something that's so different from the other one? Something else to see when my one of my 'special' Brain Jackers is finished before I start to _sculpt_. But first I should put away my prizes." The voice purred as Juleka jerked a little as she realized what it was talking about._ Special, okay how do you make something that can control people special…make it so it can take memories and 'sculpt' must mean memories. That has to be it. I can't let this thing take my memories; if it transfers them to a medium others can see then the chance and then for it to mess with my mind!_ Juleka thought as she tried to struggle free. As the laughter moved away she was finally able to open her eyes and saw Galen passed out, a white glow around his body that caused her to stare as she recognized the sight of mana.

Looking down she saw she was in black webs of some kind and she couldn't move her arms as she tried to get out of it. _I don't have_ _other choices, all I can do is wait for a chance and then take it, I would feel a lot better if I could use Ocean Strength like bro._ Juleka thought as she tried to keep her spirit up as she waited for her chance.

Queen Bee ran through the tunnel as Deathblade Beatle followed behind her as she tried to find any evidence of the two people she was chasing after. She had already destroyed what might have been a _nest_ and how many more of those places there were, that was the real threat._ I can only hope Chat's found one of those places if there are more, but like dad said plan for the worst and hope for the best._ She thought as she led the way. As they moved down the tunnel they came across more and more spider webs on the walls, and ceiling and eventually the floor itself.

"Where are these things, could they have a base on ground level, did they break into the tunnels, no someone would have noticed that before now." She muttered as she moved, looking for anything that might look out of place._** We just have to keep looking Chloe, we can't do anything else.**_ Pollen sent and Queen Bee smiled, happy that her partner was talking to her again and looking forwards she nodded, yes they would find the captives, save them and beat back whatever was responsible for this, there would be no other outcome. She stopped as she heard the sounds of legs coming towards them from behind and she speed up, hoping to find someplace that they wouldn't be overwhelmed due to space. Queen Bee ran into a large chamber with webs all around and two other tunnels leading away beside the one she and Deathblade Beatle had come through, not the best but she could deal. She sent a command to Deathblade to ready itself for combat and spread her fan, ready to slice at anything that came at them. She heard them before she saw the ten spiders with another of the larger ones in back come into the room and charged at her and her Creature, she gritted her teeth before she screamed a battle cry as she ran forward.

Ladybug stopped when she heard a scream echo off the walls and shared a look with Chat Noir who smirked at her.

"Sounds like Queenie is ahead of us milady, shale we join in?" He asked with a smirk that she returned before charging towards the scream, Twin Fang leading the way._ Hang on Queen Bee, we're coming!_

Queen Bee slashed out at a spider that was jumping at her as she dodged it and cut off all the legs on one side and spun to dodge another one as Deathblade Beatle slammed one of its claws into another of them and she scowled as more came from the opposite tunnel, she counted then of them before a wave of black fog came from the final tunnel, the fog engulfed the spider reinforcements and seconds later, Ladybug, Chat Noir and two creatures, a saber-toothed feline and a raptor like dragon charged into the fray. Queen Bee smiled as she attacked the last few spider and saw Chat Noir jump at the large legged spider and within seconds of Chat slaying the spider the others had finished killing the spiders.

"Ladybug!" Queen Bee said as she hugged her, Ladybug returned the hug and Chat laughed as he leaned on his staff.

"It's okay Queen Bee, we're here, wait where are the people you were guarding?" Chat asked as Queen Bee stepped back and looked away.

"It was a little after we split up, this guy climbed up a ladder we found and when he realized the cover was locked he just started screaming until something shot a cord of webbing at him and pulled him off the ladder, the others were taken before I could react." Queen Bee said as Chat sighed and Ladybug face palmed as their Creatures looked on.

"We have to move and find the boss, epically given what we found." Chat said as Twin Fang sniffed the tunnel the spiders had come from as Queen Bee looked at Chat before turning to look at Ladybug who bowed her head before replying.

"We found rats, maybe a hundred of them in webs, all of them dead." Queen Bee went still when she heard this before a hard look came over her.

"Then we have to take this thing down before any of the people are killed." She said as Twin Fang started to growl and Chat winced before looking at the others.

"He just sent me a feeling of 'enemy' and 'threat', I think this is it." Chat Noir said as he looked back at the others._ 'Enemy' means whatever it is it's from the Creature World so it's definitely not an Akuma, we have to beat it back and then we can deal with the civilians._ Chat thought as he looked at the tunnel and turned to the others and they nodded at him as Twin Fang moved into the tunnel, the others following behind.

They came out into a darkened chamber with a floating glowing white circle with crystals glowing white set into pillars all around it.

"What is this place, just what is this?" Ladybug asked as they looked around the chamber. _Tikki, have you seen anything like this before_? She thought as she looked around, her eyes being drawn to the glow from the crystals._** It looks familiar, but I don't know where, I might be immortal but things can become…foggy over the years.**_ Tikki sent with an embarrassed feel to it.

"That trick Pollen taught me, I think this was where I felt the strongest source, this is where whatever is behind this was. But this….portal? What is it?" Queen Bee muttered as she looked at the portal, before going still._**Pollen, why did I call it a 'portal'?**_ Queen Bee thought as she looked into space. Chat was ahead of her and walked towards one of the pillars deep in thought.

"So we found its lair and just have to find it but what are these crystals, anyone have an idea?" He asked as he moved a hand towards it when a spark jumped from it to him. He jerked back and looked at his hand as the others looked around the room._**That was mana kit, this thing is draining mana, that why the rats died they were drained! Don't worry it takes days for humans to die from this but we have to sdtop the drain!**_ Plagg sent as Chat stared into space before shaking his head.

"It's mana, this thing is draining mana!" Chat exclaimed as he looked at the others. As the heroes looked around they saw Juleka and Galen in spider webs on one of the walls and Queen Bee dashed towards them and Juleka moved her head up, Queen Bee smiled at her as she looked at the webs Juleka was caught up in.

"Stay awake, I'll have you down in a second." Queen Bee promised as she tried to find a way to get her free.

"It…went…through." She was able to say before she passed out as Queen Bee slashed her free from the webs and grabbed her as she fell, Queen Bee put her against the wall as she looked around and willed Deathblade Beatle to come to her as she picked up movement around the pillars.

"Around us!" She called out as Chat Noir and Ladybug went back to back as their creatures snarled as spiders appeared around them. As Chat and Ladybug looked around they heard a chuckle from the circle.

"I was expecting trouble, but this? What are you, some of _them_ in armor or Halfbreads?" A haunty sounding feminine voice purred as they all turned towards the portal. A purple insect leg came out of portal followed by another leg and the body they were connected to. The slender female like body was dressed in a black dress with a loincloth like piece that went down halfway the length of the legs which the creature had four of them in place of legs at the. Its arms were covered by the dress and ended past were the hands were. The torso was slender and what skin could be seen was pale purple with its face covered by a mask with four eyes. "Come fools, come and face Dark Lord Cretria!"

As the spiders charged at their mistress cry and within seconds Ladybug and Chat Noir was cut off from Queen Bee, their creatures killing spiders left and right as they tried to survive the tide of monsters attacking them. As Queen Bee fought to defend Juleka and Galen with Deathblade Beatle's help she gritted her teeth and tried to figure out how Cretria was controlling the spiders._ Pollen, could be mental like I'm guiding Deathblade?_ Queen Bee thought as she slashed the front legs off one of the spiders as it tried to attack Juleka before Deathblade grabbed it in its claw and threw it at Cretria. Cretria raised an arm and the spider stopped in midair before falling to the floor. As Queen Bee watched it tried to get back to its feet before being pierced by one of Cretria's legs. It spasmed as it glowed white before it disintegrated as Cretria seemed to release a smug feeling as she watched the carnage._** No I don't think so, you user your miraculous as a medium to communicate mentally with Deathblade, she has to have a medium of her own.**_ Pollen sent as Queen Bee slashed at another spider as she looked at Cretria and tried to find it.

"We can't do this forever, we have to do something!" Ladybug said as she lashed out with her yo-yo. Chat nodded as Wyvern Scarab fired a blast of fire of fire at a group of spiders near a pillar as Twin Fang slashed at a spider and missed, but its slash cut a line of webbing. As one of the pillars stopped glowing Chat noticed the dimming and saw that the pillar was connected to the cut web and looked at them, wondering if they taken out then was there a chance it might affect the controller of the spiders.

As he struck out with his staff he looked at the webbing on the ground and _Plagg, if I Cataclysm the webs, will the people stuck to them be hurt? _Chat thought before wincing as Plagg _screamed _at him._** NEVER EVER USE CATACLYSM ON A FREE MANA SOUCE! THE RESULTING EXPLOSION WOULD TAKE OUT THE ENTIRE CITY!**_ Plagg sent with a feeling of madness behind them. As he held his head a spider that jumped at him was hit by Ladybugs yoyo and she pushed Chat Noir to the side.

"Eyes on the game kitty!" Ladybug cried as Twin Fang bit a spider that tried to attack their backs in two before pouncing on another one as five more charged in from the tunnel had entered from.

"The Webs, that's what's feeding the mana to the crystals!" He called as Cretria looked at him with a sense of malice about her. "If we can break them we can stop it!"

Queen Bee looked at Cretria and saw her standing on a strand of webbing that led to another chamber to the right and scowled as she realized what it meant." She's using the web to control the spiders, whatever it is in that side chamber!"

Ladybug looked at Cretria reaction and saw spiders start to guard the chamber's entrance and flicked her eyes from them to Cretria and saw her put another leg on a web line and looked at the pillars, trying to create a plan. Her eyes landed on Twin Fang and she remembered the smog it had released at those spiders, then they shot to Deathblade Beatle as it fired blasts of mana at a spider and suddenly she knew what to do. "Chat Noir, you Twin Fang deal with the spiders at the tunnel just like when we rescued Queen Bee and destroy what's inside, Queen Bee deal with Cretria, I'll provide interference!"

Chat looked at Queen Bee and nodded and charged at the spiders with Twin Fang following behind him. As Cretria watched she tried to figure out what to do when Deathblade Beatle fired blasts of mana at her, causing her to reveal her gaunlets on her hands as she used to block the shots as more spiders broke off from attacking Ladybug to charge at Deathblade only for Wyvern Raptor to set them on fire. A few feet from the tunnel Chat Noir used his staff to vault through the air and kicked off the wall above the entrance he flew back and over Twin Fang who breathed a black fog that engulfed the spiders and the webs they were guarding, a few seconds later the glow from the pillars died down as all around the spiders started to fall apart as Cretria watched in anger.

"My harvest, my army! NOOOO! Your pay for this, this isn't the end, I'll be back!" Cretria screeched as she backed up through the portal and the heroes looked at it, each wondering how they could close it. _**Quick, point your weapons at the portal and think close!**_ All the Kwami sent to their Chosen who followed their directions and a blast of mana was shot at the portal from their weapons, causing the portal to disappear.

"So, that happened, are we able to open portal like that?" Queen Bee asked as she received a sense of confirmation from Pollen and looking at Ladybug and Chat Noir they had received the same.

"What do we do about those two? And we still have to get out of here with our identities intake." Chat said as he looked at Juleka and Galen. Queen Bee closed her eyes for a few seconds before she spoke.

Queen Bee picked Juleka up after making sure she was still asleep. "We can take them to where the others are, if we leave them and then I can hide among them. You two and run, one go up and another down and try to get back to the surface get help."

Chat nodded and picked up Galen. "Best plan we've got, lets meet up tomorrow night after we've had a chance to talk to our partners about this, so lead the way Queenie."

Cretria looked at where the tear in the veil had and started to laugh loudly. She stood in a cavern with stalagmites and stalactites of various sizes with a cliff face away from her that went down over a hundred feet. "Oh ho ho ho! My acting skills are still sharp, they bought it, they actually bought it! That was wonderful; I got enough mana from this trip to use in my experiments for a month at least and the delayed destruction worked perfectly! Once I make it so I can cause pain then the loyalty of my creations is assured. And there's at least a hundred of those small beasts mana, with a few modifications they'll be a perfect base for spies and I have two sources of human mana to use in my soldier project."

Cretria turned and looked as zombies in armor put glowing crystals onto a cart pulled by a large giant spider with a zombie torso on the abdomen holding a bow with a quiver on its back, its head only having a single black eye. She walked forward and moved towards the cart and smiled as she looked at trunks full of crystals and laughed. "An when I found this tear I thought at most I would be able to test out some of my creations without distractions, distractions like you!" Cretria suddenly pointed her right arm at a stalactite and shot a blast of pure darkness at. A shadowed figure with wings jumped away from the stalactite and dived down into the fog below the cliff and a laugh echoed off the cave walls.

"_You_, what do you want?" Cretria demanded as she stood there as her zombies finished putting the crystals away and they picked up weapons and took up guard positions as snarls started to echo around them from the stalactites above.

"Oh dear Cretria, how are you? And here I was just hunting for a snack but what do I find but you my dear. So have a nice hunt across the Veil?" A voice echoed from the fog as Cretria moved between the cliff face and the cart.

"What do you want some, have your beasts not taken to breeding as you would have liked?" She asked as the laughs continued.

"My projects are preceding perfectly my dear; with the recent growth of the realms I expect we will all have a wonderful harvest over the next season. But still might I bother you for a few moments, a pure hypostatical problem my lady."

Cretria looked over the drop and crossed her arms._ Keep him talking and he has told me a few things that helped me but it always helped him more, perhaps I can turn the tide and get one over on him._ She thought as she signaled her zombies to hold. "Very well speak."

"The darkness realm is currently growing and by that I mean physically growing bigger at an incredible rate. Old prisons and fortress that were locked away by spells are falling back into our world, new paths have to be made and alliances are breaking left and right and our Queen is gone once again."

Cretria frowned as she listened to the voice tell her what she already knew. She couldn't understand just what _he _wanted from her but she was starting to lose her patience. "Get to a point before I leave and slaughter your beasts as I go." She growled as the laughter grew.

"What if I told you some of our associates were sick of how those above us were doing nothing, that we were planning a little meeting to decide how to best steer the ship that our Civilization has become with our captain gone."

Cretria went still as she understood just what was being said and not said. _This, this is._ She thought as a grin formed beneath her mask as plans were formed and discarded in seconds. "And where might I go to join this gathering sempai?" She asked as the shadows on the stalactites seemed to move back as she signaled her own forces to get back to work

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Juleka shot up and looked around and relaxed as she saw she was on the surface. _What happened, where's…_ She thought before a figure grabbed her around the waist.

"Juleka! I was so worried when they took you!" Juleka looked down and saw Rose hugging her and smiled.

"Rose, what happened?" Juleka asked as she looked around. She was in an ambulance and she saw officers from the Akuma Taskforce all over, some of them going underground and others helping people move around. She saw Lila under a blanket and talking up a storm as Kim and Nathanial seemed to be eating it up to her disgust._ She's just like __**she**__ was; why didn't I see it before? Still if I can save at least some of my friends from falling deeper than that's that._ She thought as she waited for Rose to reply.

"Queen Bee saved us, I overheard that Chat Noir was there too! Queen Bee said those things were the result of an Akuma's minions getting away from them before and multiplying!" Rose said as Juleka let Rose talk. _So she lied to keep people calm or is she one of them? If the Shamans became them then I gotta talk to bro about this._ Juleka thought as she looked at Rose and notice Ivan and Mylène coming towards her and smiled, at least she could save them.

"Does anyone know what Ivan did? It's important that nobody knows." Juleka asked as Ivan and Mylène made it to them. Ivan looked confused but Mylène nodded and spoke up.

"No, the both of us stayed silent and didn't say anything beside that he tried to fight those things off." Mylène said causing Ivan to look at her in total shock.

"What I did, what did I do?" Ivan asked as Mylène and Rose looked at Juleka who hesitated for a few seconds before she spoke up.

"Ivan, I need you to close your eyes and meditate like that martial arts teacher showed us last year, please don't ask question and do that okay?" Ivan looked at her before he looked at Mylène and Rose and did so. As he conitrated on he _sensed_ something within in him, it felt kind of like a flame that was slowly growing stronger and he opened his eyes when he realized that it felt familiar.

"That feels like when I became Stoneheart, what is it?" Ivan asked as Mylène hugged him and Juleka stared in shock.

"So he was right about it….Listen when you have some free time would you mind coming over to my place, we need to talk." Julkea said as she gestured with her head at Ivan, causing Rose's eyes to dart to him and Mylène who both nodded.

Max sat on the curb with a blanket over his shoulders and held out his hand and frowned as he saw it shake a little. He looked towards Malcolm as he talked to men in suits as Miss Bustier stood nearby and frowned as he watched. _There has to be a factor that ties why we were all conscious. He was quite quick to deny ever being an Akuma so he has to know something about why. Still why do I feel so week?_ Max thought as Miss Bustier came over to him and smiled at him.

"Are you okay Max, nothing feels wrong?" Max looked up at her and smiled.

"I believe that I am operating at least 60 percent of my average Miss Bustier, yourself?" Max asked as he noticed how she seemed to be as bad off as he was. She smiled back at him and sat down next to him

"Not the best to tell the truth. I've already called the principle and told him I would be absent tomorrow and I suggest you do the same." She said as Max nodded and looked up at her before she walked over to Malcolm who was watching an ambulance speed away as the men he was talking to walked away.

"Good for nothings, I can't believe this." Malcolm said under his breath as he watched the ambulance move away and

"And what did they tell you?" Miss Bustier asked causing Malcolm to jump and look at her.

"Oh Miss Bustier. Nothing's wrong it's just the entire catacombs are being shut down while we go over every tunnel to make sure nothing else is wrong." Malcolm said as she looked at him with a stare that caused him to contuse. "….And their putting me on leave for the next week, bastards are probably looking for a way to make me the scapegoat for this debacle."

"What, why? You kept us moving and you stayed behind to protect us when those things attacked us! And they were the result of an Akuma, how could they blame you." Miss Bustier demanded as Malcolm smirked sardonically.

"Never doubt the need people have to blame others when things go wrong. If no one is to blame then the bosses are at fault and they really don't want that." Malcolm said as he rubbed the back of his head. "All in all it doesn't matter really; I was just using this job to survive until the paperwork on my teacher's license finishes." Malcolm said as Miss Bustier perked up at his unexpected answer.

"Teacher license, what subject are you best at? The college needs a new math teach to tell the truth." Miss Bustier asked as Malcolm perked up and smiled back at her with a grin on his face.

Max overheard everything that was being said and made a mental note to the file he already had on Malcolm and watched as the two adults talked._ I don't know just what it is your hiding but I will find out just why you stayed consuins_ _Miss Bustier like and me. _Max thought before he heard his mother's voice and smiled.

Nino looked at Lila as she talked as Alya fumed under the blanket keeping Lila out of her sight.

"And how do you think the little witch will use this to strike at Marinette?" She growled as Nino looked at Lila and kept his poker face as he tried to figure out what his girlfriend meant.

"Aint no way for her to do that baby, the only thing Marinette had to do with the trip was bring up the Akuma's when she became the class representative and how the school arranged the trip schedule." Nino said only for Alya to scoff.

"And looking back the last two weeks and her stories, she's probably going to strike with a story about how she saved a field trip or two when she was class president or something." Alya said as she clenched the blanket to her body._ An I helped her do that with the Ladyblog! When that bitch gave me that interview I can't believe I brought it hook line and sinker!_

"If she says anything I can bring up what happened year, the whole school changed what rep could or couldn't do, it was strange and I still don't know how it all went down so please babe if you gotta ask do it to the principle." Nino said as Alya looked at him and shook her head.

She looked at Nino and started to think._ That sounds like a story for later, for now I need to look into Lila. And the way she loves to have an audience maybe the best way is to go undercover and act like I still believe her, and I can't let Marinette know myself so… _Alya thought as she gained an insightful look on her face "Well I'll table that for now. I need you to apologies to Mari for the both of us, I'm going to have a _talk _with Lila."

Nino looked at Alya, a sinking feeling going down his spine as he looked at her. "Babe, what are you planning?"

"If she likes an audience so much, I don't think she'll mind someone going _backstage_ to find out everything about her, for a report on how _wonderful_ she really is." Alya said with a devious expression on her face.

Nino looked at her for a few seconds before he just shook his head." I can't talk you out of this, can I?"

Alya looked at him for a few seconds before replying. "No you can't. She used me to hurt Marinette and I'm going to make her regret that with everything I have."

"Then I'll tell Marinette about it, and don't worry the girl can act." Nino said as Alya looked at him with a semi shocked look.

"_Marinette _can act? The girl whose a mess….well who was a mess just talking to Adrien?" Alya said as she remembered seeing Adrien and Marinette actually talk without her being a mess and hated the fact that she had missed it.

"Yeah, stick a script in front of her, give her time to learn, and in a few days she could act like a pro." Nino said as he smirked. "Course she likes to stay in the backstage area, costumes and sets that's what she loves most. But then she knew when she's biting off more than she could handle."

"Sounds like Marinette but you can't talk me out of it, I'm still going to do it." Alya said as Nino frowned and looked at her before he sighed.

"Okay but please try and try and be safe, talk to me about everything after you spend time alone with her, okay?" Nino asked as Alya looked at him and smirked at him.

"Yeah and if I start to like her kool aid grabbed ne and sit on me if you have to." Alya said as Nino nodded at her.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"This is perfect grandfather; if portals to the Darkness realm are opening then the harvest we could gain from this place will be even more than we thought it would be!" Galen said as he looked at his grandfather and who looked down at the chitin leg and frowned. They were in their building in the building top level, their home and Galen was opening a suitcase and revealed a small rectangle box. His grandfather didn't speak, holding the chitin leg that Galen had smuggled out of the catacombs and just marveled at it.

"I'll admit if the mana is strong enough to open a doorway into the Kaiju's domain then that might be true but keep your eye on the prize. If we can get one of those moths then everything might change!" The elder said as he looked down at the leg in his hands. _This is very interesting; normally it should have been banished before it was damaged to this extent. If this is different, maybe we could grab actual Kaiju parts for our projects without the formation. That would be a game changer but I don't know if that is possible, this leg might be an anomaly. _The elder thought as he looked at Galen who only scoffed at his grandfather's words and looked away from the box to stare at him.

"Of course grandfather, but remember what we're really after, a source of _materials _to make our battles against the others that much easier, that's why I went there in the first place." Galen said only for his grandfather to frown as a thought struck him and caused him to look up at Galen.

"You did leave a time delayed charm behind boy? And your sure that thing didn't affect you to much?" His grandfather asked as Galen opened the box and revealed a dagger with a bone hilt with a black gem set into it._ Perfect, let's see if the recovered knowledge really works as it says it does. To think that construction work on a new house back home would have revealed a treasure that gave our Chapter this power back._ Galen thought as he turned to his grandfather with a grin on his face.

"Even better grandfather, two proximity charms with a time delay of ten minutes in an out of the way place with perfect commands. And I just won't summon anything, a simple test of my stealth is all that I need." Galen said as his grandfather turned to the active TV and saw a street with emergency lights and the caption, 'Akuma minion Attacks Tour Group!' turning to his grandson the old man frowned.

"With everything the police are doing to make sure everyone is out you should wait for a few days." The elder said sharply only for Galen to smirk and look at him.

"What, worried that something might happen to me? Don't worry with those people thinking that an Akuma was behind that instead of even thinking that it could be something else, this is the perfect time for me to test out this thing. And once I find a secondary way into the catacombs then we can really start the harvest" Galen said as he threw the knife up and caught it as his grandfather only sighed.

"Still must you use a knife to hide the spellgem? If your new school finds and takes it!" Galen only smirked at his grandfather's words and laughed a little.

"You worry too much, it doesn't have a blade and the handle is blunt and smooth. And everything I've learned about the school shows that it doesn't have pat downs or locker checks. And I'll just say it's a good luck charm dad gave me if anyone asks, I'll make up some line about it being an heirloom." Galen said with a smirk as he looked at his grandfather. The old man only looked back at him before grunting.

"You've made a decision then, good! Stick to it and never go back on your word, that is the way of the Umbrerege clan." His grandfather said causing Galen to grin back at him

"Off course grandfather, oh I almost forgot. I met that girl we saw earlier today and found out what class she's in, and you might have been right about her, she was something else when it happened." Galen said with a slight blush on his checks. His grandfather only laughed and looked at his grandson with a smirk on his face.

"Oh did she? Good, did you at least get her name this time?" Galen looked at his elder for a few seconds before speaking.

"I did, her names Marinette **Dupain**-Cheng, sound familiar?" Galen said as he watched as his Grandfather stood there is shock as he heard Marinette's name. Galen just smirked as he saw the way his grandfather was reacting and moved off to go try out the spell. He looked over his shoulder, a slight smirk on his face as he walked away. _He never really talked about the war and what he did in Paris, I always thought he kept quiet about just what they were looking for down there, this is my chance to do a little investigating myself while I'm in town. And there is miss Marinette, she is kind of cute._ Galen thought as he reached the door to the roof and took out the knife and held it before him.

"There will be time for that latter, for now….DREAD SET!" He intoned as the gemstone started to glow black before bands of dark energy flew from the gem and up his arm. As it passed his clothing changed, turning into a black leather like material that covered his hand and arm. When it reached his chest it started to gain a metallic sheen to it as it covered his body in the material. At his knees long boots started to form and as it flowed up his neck a mask formed until it reached his eyes, which were covered with a blue material that let him see but no one could see his eyes. Finally as it covered his head two bat-like ears formed on the side of his head and two fang-like markings formed next to his mouth as the knife stated to glow and changed into a long sword with a bat winged pummel. From his back grew two bat like wings that flared out until the closed, looking like he was wearing a cape. He looked at his reflection in the windows and smirked.

"Not bad, I'll have to think of a good name but I can use this, wait a second." He said as he concentrated and the cape turned back into wings that he flexed.

"I can use to this, but I think I'll save this until I need to show what I can really do." He said as he walked into the night air and with a running jump he moved towards the river.

Back in the study the old man just stared into space for a few seconds before he walked out of the room, going towards his office where he moved towards a small claw statue of a woman in a robe with a black gem set into the statue's head. He put a white glowing hand on it and from the statues eyes an image of a teenage girl around sixteen years appeared. She had dark green eyes with a spark of mischief in them and was wearing black pants and a red shirt; she had on sunglasses with tan rims and long gold earrings with green circular tops. He looked at the image and smiled bitterly._ To think that she might be the grandchild of my lost love, I thought she might just have been someone who was a natural, but this! It seems that it is true, destiny is strange and wondrous! The woman who I lost track of so many years ago, the chance of finding her descendent by chance were so large, but a short investigation into her family and I'll have an answer one way or another._ He nodded and looked at the image for a few more seconds.

"Well Lady Gina it seems fate and time might has given me a second chance to merge our lines together and this time I won't fail!" He said with a savage grin. _I knew coming back to Paris would do me some good, but I never thought I would have a second chance to add her blood to my family. Maybe I should invite her and give her a plus one for her granddaughter._ He thought as he sat behind his desk and started to go over the last paperwork for the grand opening.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Adrien had only walked into his home before his father rushed towards him and grabbed him in a hug before he looked him over. _This, this here is why I know everything he does or how he controls my life is because he's so worried about me._ Adrien thought as he looked at his father as he stepped back.

"Adrien are you alright, when I heard that your class was lost underground because of a cave in I was so scared, are you sure you're okay? I never should have let you go on that trip, what were they thinking?" Gabriel asked as he looked at his son. Adrien only looked at him with a respectful look on his face.

"Really father I'm okay. It wasn't anything that people could do to prevent. I mean I never thought that an Akuma's servant could escape and try to carry out its makers will." Adrien said as Nathalie came out behind his father who had gone still when he heard what his son said.

"An Akuma? Adrien, what do you mean?" Nathalie asked speaking up before Gabriel could react. Adrien looked at her with a confused look.

"I thought that the news have broken already. It was this spider like minion thing that created copies of itself, at least that's what the heroes said. When we were attacked I just ran and tried to find my way back to the exit to get help. I found them after Ladybug, Chat Noir and Queen Bee dealt with it." Adrien said as he winced as he rubbed his shoulder. Gabriel looked at him and grew concerned.

"Are you sure you're alright Adrien, should we call the doctor?" Gabriel asked with a cold tone of voice, only to be met with Adrien shaking his head.

"Don't be worried father, Miss Bustier made everyone get looked over by the emergency responders before she let any of us leave. Just a few scraps from dropping down, a few days rest and I'll be as right as rain again." Adrien said as his father released a sigh of relief. Gabriel looked at his son with a calm face but inside he was anything but calm._ How could an Akuma's minion mine have been active once I powered down, it makes no sense! I think I need to talk to Nono about this and see what he might be hiding from me. If it wasn't one of my Akumas then what could it have been?_ Gabriel thought as he looked at Adrien before coming to a decision.

"Nathalie, reschedule all my sons photo shots for the next week and push them back until he's recovered. If the any of the photo-shoots are necessary for marketing then contact other models, offer the jobs to anyone who would want them." Gabriel said as Adrien looked up in shock before schooling his features. Gabriel had caught his son's look and decided to explain.

"When your hurt you have to recover, you can go to school but come home before supper if you must be out and don't strain yourself and let your body recover; that is my final word on this subject. Now go rest in your room, I'll have the cooks send up one of your favorites for supper, I have to make sure everything else if fine and I might have to change a few collections I have planned for the next few weeks." Gabriel said causing Adrien to nodded his head.

"Of course father, good night." Adrien said as he looked at his father who gave him a small smile in return. He watched Adrien walk to his room before he turned and entering his office with Nathalie following behind him, closing the door after her.

"You never activated it today sir, how could this have happened?" Nathalie asked as Gabriel moved through his office.

"I know Nathalie." Gabriel bit out as he walked towards his desk._ This doesn't make sense, what could this mean!_ He thought as he moved.

"But if this is possible then this changes everything we thought we knew about them, how could this be? Is it one of ours or was it something else?" She asked as Gabriel reached his desk.

"I know Nathalie; we will ask the expert on this." Gabriel said with a cold tone to his voice. Gabriel slammed a fist on a specific button and one of the smaller paintings swung open to reveal Nooroo who floated towards him.

"Master what is it?" He asked only to be met with a glare from Gabriel.

"You tell me, Adrien and his class were attacked by some kind of spider things in the catacombs, people were captured! Those so called heroes said their source was a minion from one of my Akuma! How could the minion of one of our Akumas last so long, let alone multiply?" Gabriel demanded as Nooroo looked at him with a slight hardness to his eyes.

"You know that my power lasts even if we're depowered as your stink as the Collector will remind you. As for a minion that is impossible, they will not last beyond the Akumas that spawned them. If something was there then what they are hidden form me, I'm sorry that I can't be more help master…..wait it might have been made by, but who could have made it?" Nooroo muttered as he hovered above them, stopping and turning to look at Gabriel who looked at Nooroo with a hard looked in his eyes.

"What are you talking about, explain yourself now!" Gabriel demanded as Natalie looked on with a small spark in her eyes that shined at the discomfort Nooroo was feeling. _I love it when he forces something from that little abomination. Things like that, their place is beneath our boot._ Natalie thought as she looked on with a blank face.

"Miraculous users, the people they fight against are those who abuse mana, the power that I activated in you master when we first transformed. The only thing I can think of would be an alchemist creating servants, why they were capturing people I can't say, those people are usually mad or psychotic." Nooroo said as he floated there. _And that's not talking about the Veil and the Kaijus, but I'll never tell him about them while I have a choice._ Nooroo thought as he floated there and looked down at Gabriel.

Gabriel looked at Nooroo before he started to pace back and forth as he started to think. _If he's right then there's a new player on the game board, but what is their endgame, what are they after? And the next time I create an Akuma will they interfere, and there's the 'heroes', do they know what it was?_ Gabriel thought as he kept pacing.This was a problem, already a year had gone by and he was still no closer to saving her then he was before, and now this?

"Nathalie I want everything you can find out about the catacombs and the people who work there, I want everything about what happened to my son's class by breakfast and any rumors that have to deal with the catacombs by next week. I'll deal with the photo-shoot myself." Gabriel said as he moved towards his desk to start working. Nathalie nodded and picked up her tablet and started to look up a map of the underground and called up all the news for the day. Nooroo looked on and frowned as he watched Nathalie. Something about her had always bothered him, every time he interacted with her he always felt she was taken joy from his suffering.

"So in the past, humans and these Kaiju lived in peace before this war happened?" Adrien asked as Plagg ate some cheese as Adrien picked at his plate in his room. Plagg looked at him and rubbed his stomach and sighed deeply.

"Ahhhh that's some good Camembert! Yeah kid, everyone lived in…well not peace but kind of a cold war with skirmishes between small groups, but everything changed so suddenly, practically one day there was peace and the next they were all fighting to the death." Plagg said as Adrien absorbed what he was told before he looked down. _War could happen suddenly sure, but something that fast, how could it have happened like Plagg's saying._ Adrien thought as he looked up with a hard look on his face.

"So where did it happen first, did you ever find out what sparked it off?" Adrien asked only for Plagg to sigh and looked sad.

"No kit, never really did. My Chosen before everything happened died of old age in the first few days and the ring was passed to his son. Together with Tikki the two of us and our Chosen defended their home during the worst of it." Plagg said before Adrien looked up in confusion.

"So when you told me how to summon when those things attacked, how did you learn how to do that?" Adrien asked causing Plagg to laugh a little as he looked at Adrien. _I don't know if the kit is really ready to learn about this but if the Kaiju are popping holes because of something on the other side of the barrier or because of something on this side then he has to know about them, well Plagg old boy time to talk about Kaiju History 101. _Plagg thought as he shook his head and looked at his Chosen.

"No, as I told you when we summoned Twin Fang he was a Chimera, a Kaiju that's classified as part of the Darkness Civilization. While their called Civilizations kit, they're not all that united really and some of them aren't that smart, some of them don't even have sentience really, but even the dumbest had personalities like very smart animals. They followed their Monarchs because they were the most powerful or embodied an ideal those that could think could get behind but that didn't mean some wouldn't fight against each other trying to take over." Plagg said as he hovered and watched Adrien as he observed what he was told. _If that's true then maybe the rest of the team has a bit more power to stand against Hawkmoth, no Plagg didn't say anything when Queen Bee told us she called them an Akuma's minions so we shouldn't use them against Akuma ten?_ Adrien thought as he looked at Plagg with a hard look.

"Was there a reason for the way Queen Bee or her Kwami told the others those…things were mad by an Akuma?" Adrien asked as Plagg nodded at him.

"Yeah, over the centuries people forgot about the Kaiju and over time we've learned why and by 'we_'_ I mean Tikki and me, and we never told any of the others Kwami or the Guardians about it, we couldn't betray our Chosen's trust since they kept us a secret from her cousin." Plagg said as Adrien looked at him in confusion.

"Kept what a secret? And what happened to these Creatures and why don't people remember the war?" Adrien asked as he looked at Plagg who started to look smug.

"I don't know if you can comprehend how long ago the war was, there was even a culture that practically ruled the oceans that the world has forgotten! The secret was that people ended the war when they created what they called the Veil that split the world in two." Plagg said as Adrien stared at him in shock, trying to comprehend that people had done this, mortal but powerful people without the Miraculus and Kwami to help.

"I'm guess then these Monarchs were powerful then Tikki?" Marinette asked as she sat in her room. After she had gotten home and her parents had fussed over her she had grabbed a quick meal to eat in her room, grabbed a few cookies and had gone to her room to talk to Tikki about what had happened.

"They were among the strongest of Creature-kind and in that time when everything was beginning, well they were warlords that conquered or allied with others who had the same kind of mana as they did. As the various alliances were brought under a loose central command, things started to change. Humans started to summon them and use mana, trying to bridge the gap that had grown between humans and Creature, but no matter what anyone did those who became known as the Monarchs were known as the most powerful and had the greatest mana capacity." Tikki said as she looked at Marinette as she ate the cookies Marinette had snagged for her.

"But what do the fact that people could use mana to try and match them, what does that have does that have to do with how the war ended?" Marinette asked as she tried to guess what Tikki wasn't saying. Tikki looked at Marinette and decide to speak the whole truth.

"When the war broke out the person I was partnered to was the daughter of a territory's leader, she became well, the closest word would be queen today but leaders were different back then. She and I fought in the light, not the shadow we've been doing since Hawkmoth appeared. Her and the Chat Noir of that time would fight to protect their home for war duration, it stopped abruptly, a wave of energy suddenly traveled over the whole world and the Creatures vanished, Chat was even striking at a Dragon when it just disappeared, there one second and gone the next he hit a warehouse with Cataclysm, he ended up face down in manure." Tikki said as she giggled softly as she remembered the reaction that had caused.

"And when did you learn what had happened to cause that?" Marinette asked, smirking slightly when Tikki looked at her in shock.

"If you don't know the answer to something, your voice has a way, a catch. Just now you didn't have that so when did you find out what happened?" Marinette asked. Tikki looked at Marinette for as the seconds flew past and started to laugh, smiling as she looked at her chosen.

"You really will be one of the great Ladybugs Marinette, you really will. It was around 1860, give or take about ten years. Plagg and our chosen were tracking down this, well a mad scientist type who mutated local animals into something he could control, we were after him and passed through this town called San Campion in the American South West, we had lost what we were tracking when this Kaiju appeared above us. We tracked it and met others controlling Kaijus and well, after a few misunderstanding where both sides thought the others were the scientist's lackeys and well, we fought each other." Tikki said before she laughed with an edge of embarrassment to it as she hid her face from Marinette, who only looked exasperated.

"And how was that cleared up?" Marinette asked as she lay down on her bed with her arm over her eyes, thoughts about how people jumped the gun running through her head.

"It turned out that one of them was the cousin of my chosen, once we cleared everything up and they realized we all weren't in his service they helped us stop him from attacking a train and then we, that is our chosen chased him to the east coast where we stopped him from attacking Washington DC. And they were able to keep the existence of the Miraculous from the others by saying they were just artifacts they had come across while running from the Alchemist" Tikki said as Marinette looked at her friend and sighed. _They saved the political capital of a country, I guess Tikki was right when she said her chosen have changed human history, and all I'm doing is fighting against someone who wants a wish for reasons we don't know._ Marinette thought as she felt her self-esteem start to fall before she shook it off and promised herself to do some of the breathing and exercises Master Fu showed her to help her deal with it and stay level headed.

"Stepping away from the fact you helped save the United States; was fighting that…Alchemist, was that what you and your chosen usually fight?" Marinette asked as Tikki nodded at her before she continued.

"Yes actually, we kwami are usually called on to deal with those who abused Mana or when the threat to life was great. The alchemist was just one of the usual opponents we've fought over the years." Tikki said as Marinette sat and thought._ If that's the usual foe then Hawkmoth using the power of a Miraculous must be rare. I'm starting to get a bad feeling that people like them might come to Paris for one reason or another, wait what about those people?_ Marinette thought as what Tikki wasn't saying connected in her head. She turned and looked at the kwami and stared.

"Those people, that cousin, they were connected to what stopped the war, weren't they." Marinette declared as Tikki laughed a little.

"They were descendants of an Order of mana users who made a plan and captured the Kaiju Monarchs and siphoned mana from them and cast a spell to create a 'Veil' to split the world in two, one for humans and one for Kaiju Kind. The Monarchs are kept asleep so they could be drained to reinforce the Veil over the years. And we weren't affected because the mana we generate is mostly human mana when we merge." Tikki said only for Marinette to look at her in shock as she made a few connections in her head. _I knew that was a connection between… wait how did the alchemist mutate the animals? Alchemy was supposed to be what would be the start of chemistry… wait, chemistry, perfume! _ Marinette thought as she shot up and looked at Tikki wasn't saying connected in her head. She turned and looked at the kwami and stared.

"Tikki, that thing was draining people and animals of mana, so it's tied into alchemy or did it have another reason to do that?" Marinette asked causing Tikki to look thoughtful and gain a sorrowful.

"I have never seen anything like that before and the only one of us who would know about it would have been Sting." Tikki said as Marinette looked up at the namedrop.

"Sting, a Kwami whose Miraculous Master Fu has?" Marinette asked only for Tikki to shake her head.

"No, Sting wanted to rest and sleep after his Chosen died and he hide his Miraculous on his own, but he knew more about alchemy and almost enough about healing as I do." Tikki said as she looked at Marinette.

"Is this connected to how Akuma's aren't hurt no matter what happens when we fight them, the Cure heals them?" Marinette asked as Tikki nodded.

"Yes and about Alchemy I remember Sting chosen using his mana to activate it once he was done mixing it." Tikki said as Marinette started to look convinced about something as what she was hearing connected with other things she knew.

"Compounds like how the Alchmest mutate those animals, using chemicals? And if that's the case then could Chloe be right about Lila's perfume? That it's why everyone believes her?" Marinette asked as she stared into space. Tikki looked confused before she understood what Marinette was asking before paling as well.

"It might but it couldn't have been her who made it, there would be signs of her generating mana like you and the other chosen….Opps?" Tikki said as she brought her hands to her face.

"Wait I'm generating mana, how'd that happen, and you know who Chat Noir is?" Marinette asked in a confused tone as Tikki smiled at her as she went over how to explain what using a Miraculous meant for the user.

"Yes you are. And I can 'sense' anyone who generates mana and I know who Chat Noir is from the Dark Owl incident, but I can't tell you it's a spell that keeps kwami from telling their users who others are because of the possibility of events like Hawkmoth happening." Tikki said as she looked at Marinette, thankfully for the kwami Marinette could say anything before her phone suddenly buzzed; Marinette looked at it before shooting Tikki a look. She grabbed it and went still as she read it before looking up at Tikki with a confused look on her face.

"Nino just texted me, he wants to talk to me the next time I'm free at some café on the other side of town from the school, a place where we can talk with a small chance of Lila running into us." Marinette said in confusion as she looked at Tikki._ Could Chloe have been right, is Lila controlling them, and if she was did they break it?_ Marinette thought as she wondered what this meant.

"So you're saying when people have an activate Miraculous on their body for twenty four hours total they turn on the body's ability to make this…mana?" Chloe asked as she sat at her vanity and brushed her hair. She had had a long day and meeting Galen had caused something in her to shiver and not the good way. Pollen hovered next to her and nodded as she looked at her chosen.

"Yes Chloe, mana. It's the life-force of the universe, the breath of creation, people convert their food into it and uses it every day; it's also what causes those who become Akuma to not be hurt when their cured, their bodies return to 'normal' and maybe a bit healthier than they were before. And anyone can raise their mana production up to usable levels, mostly athletes or people who know themselves very well do so, it's the so called enlightenment people have talked about." Pollen said as she looked at Chloe.

"So besides the fact that I'll get sick a lot less, what does that mean for me that I 'make' mana now? And do you know who the others are?" Chloe asked as she looked into her mirror and barred her teeth to see if any food was stuck between them again.

"Yes, and I don't know. I can detect when people generate more mana than usual but that's not really a sign of being a chosen as I said anyone could raise it high enough." Pollen said as Chloe turned her head and looked at Pollen with a hard look._ I'm not going to bring up the other effects, there always better for chosen to learn about on their own, but I'm sure your be happy when you realize what was the cause._ Pollen thought as she looked at Chloe who sighed and nodded.

"I can live with that, but can you explain what these….Creatures better, like Deathblade Beatle? The way that one talked they have to be old, but I've never seen anything like them in any of my history texts." Chloe asked as Pollen gained a sorrowful look.

"Yes I can talk about the Creatures, the story is sad, you see a long time ago, thousands of years really, they roamed all over this planet. There was a war, between the Human Tribes and the Creatures. It stopped abruptly, I didn't know how it happened for centuries, but when it did happen my Chosen and I were protecting a refugee camp from bandits. I know from Ladybug's kwami that the two of them and Chat Noir and his kwami were in the middle of defending a castle from a dragon when most of the Creatures just…disappeared." Pollen said as she looked down and a tear dropped from one of her eyes, causing Chloe to look worried.

"Hey, you okay Pollen, bad memories?" Chloe asked as she looked at her friend. _You'd never know that this girl is immortal and older then recorded history, the things she's told me about the past, so many ideas for my stories, but she's carrying a lot of weight._ Chloe thought as she got up and Pollen landed on her shoulder, Chloe walked to a small cabinet she had taken to keeping a box of sunflower seeds and offered her a few which she ate. After she finished Pollen seemed to be struggling before she continued talking.

"The refugees were Creatures, and the bandits were human. There were so many children in that camp, and a whole tribe of Beast-Kin that were farmers before everything went to hell. My chosen and I would spend the rest of our partnership wondering what had happened and if they were still alive." Pollen said as Chloe walked over to her bed and opened a draw she had furnished as a bed/ glove storage area in case anyone opened it.

"But you found out what had happened right, you instructed me how to summon Deathblade?" Chloe asked as she sat down. _That was amazing now that I think about it, how I controlled _Deathblade_ and fought against those spiders._ Chloe thought as she looked at Pollen.

"It was a Megabug and yes, but not before I left her, I promised when I left to find out and I did. It was about a thousand or so years later my chosen was a young girl whose father was a druid in what you would come to call Ireland, he could summon the Creatures of the Nature Civilization, particularly one of the Beastkin, according to his stories the world was split between man and Creature. Overtime she learned to summon and once I was there and talked to the creature about it and he told us that memories of the war were fading, their rulers were gone and they were enjoying a time of limited peace." Pollen said as Chloe gained a look in her eye that caused Pollen to smile.

"So the world was split in two to stop this war? But wait how did I sense those spiders?" Chloe asked as she reached and grabbed a tablet, opening up a writing program absently. Pollen looked at her chosen and smiled as she saw how _alive_ Chloe looked. _This Ladybug was great with chosen who to offer my partnership to and if the past had been different I think she would have made a great Guardian. Chloe needed someone I am so happy to have been chosen to work with her. But the hole in the border, why did that happen now?_ Pollen thought as she moved towards her bed before replaying to Chloe.

"That has to do with how we merge when you activate the Miraculous, it's called the Bleed Through, the transfer of abilities from me to you. I am the kwami of Harmony, so things that were…._corrupted_ like them will be as clear as day to you sooner or later. But that _thing_,I can't even. It was beyond anything I've ever seen or heard off during the war or the centuries after." Pollen said with a shiver as she floated and looked straight at Chloe who looked up at the tone of Pollen's voice.

"If you ever sense anything like that slip away from wherever you are and check on it. What happened to those people was terrible; most of them will be weak for the next week at worst, days at best. If they had been there for one day they all might have died." Pollen said as Chloe paled in fright. _Good thing dad is closing the catacombs to get all those spiders out, maybe I should ask the others if we should check it out ourselves, there have to be a way to slip in undetected to investigate._ Chloe thought as she looked out her windows.

"I'll mention to my father about how scared I was, maybe he'll close the place for a few days to make sure everything is safe." Chloe said as she shook herself and looked at Pollen who smiled back. _Having a friend like Pollen is wonderful, having someone who is on my side no matter what besides Sabrine that I can tell anything to was exactly what I needed, having someone who stays away from people and just wants the best for me really has helped me work through a lot of my issues, and talking to that person Marinette told me about, that old man, he's really helped me has helped me just by letting talking to him about anything without daddy or the press knowing. _Chloe thought as she looked at her friend, her past and the way she always had to act to help her parent's careers and how she was sometimes paraded around as a loyal show dog just to score a few political points. Getting Pollen into her life and making a friend of Marinette and Marinette parents were the first step in turning her life around, now she just had to keep on the right path and work on her sense of humor so it wasn't like her mother was then.

"Yeah, and don't stay up to late writing, we still have school in the morning!" Pollen said as she dropped onto her bed as Chloe smiled at her friend and started to type. Chloe stopped and looked down, something was bothering her and she was wondering if she dared to bring it up.

"Pollen, when we were in the catacombs, before they jumped us, what happened to you there?" Chloe asked as she looked down at Pollen who looked up and sighed deeply._ She should know about Bel, I owe her memory that much and she should know about that, I know the others will tell them the story once she tells them I said they could._ Pollen thought before she gathered her courage and spoke.

"That place where we were, that was where my last Chosen died." Pollen said softly. Chloe looked at her with worry, remembering the flash of pain that Pollen had when they had reached that part of the tunnels.

"Oh Pollen." Chloe as she looked down at her friend.

"We were able to get away and gave her a quite burial to hide her body, and after the Liberation we reburied her and the Guardian let me see her gravestone before I went back to sleep." Pollen said as Chloe looked at her before she realized what Pollen was talking about and what she wasn't saying.

"The Liberation of Paris, then she died during World War 2, you fought NAZIS?!" Chloe asked with a shocked look on her face as she looked down at her partner. If she had looked out the window then she would have seen a figure running along the rooftops and would have misidentified it as Chat Noir on an evening run, but the figure was the farthest thing from a Miraculous holder that one could be.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Galen smirked as he ran over the roofs of the city, a laugh threatening to break out of his mouth as he moved. _This is wonderful, a simple bat motif and Paris has a new 'defender'! And this lets me test out what we found; and Grandfather is right, I need to create a good name, something bat related or the night. Lunar Edge, Dusk Fang? The name can wait; time to take a look at the scheme of the crime. _He smirked as he jumped over a street and clouds allowed a flash of moonlight to fall on him, revealing a figure in a skin tight black and grey bodysuit with bat-like ears on the head and two fang like markings on the full facemask. Galen felt a laugh bubble in his chest and fought to keep it down as he moved, stopping when he finally reached a roof overlooking the place where he and the others had come out off earlier.

He saw the lights of the emergency response vehicles looking and saw people moving into the underground passage and frowned when he saw the area was locked down. Behind his mask he frowned as he tried to think of a way to get back into the underground. _ This way is closed like I thought it was but maybe I could find a way through the sewers, or maybe a river access like I saw when we were trying to find a way up and that bitch took over because she was 'lost underground' before._ Galen thought as he moved back from the edge of the roof and moved away from the lights.

He jumped from building to building making for the Seine River, hoping to find the way into the sewers and from there into the catacombs. As he ran over the buildings he never noticed that he had gained a _stalker _as he moved along the rooftops, a stalker that followed him as he moved to the river and stopped. Galen brought a hand to his helmet and nodded to himself before he dove into the river.

A few minutes later a figure moved away from the shadows of a chimney and looked down; standing still he watched the river for a few moments more before turning and moving away, jumping from rooftop to rooftop. The moonlight fell over the stalker and revealed a teen boy around our heroes age with red hair in a red vest over a white shirt and black pants. He was wearing bracelets around his wrists with a red stone on each that released a soft red glow and on each of his shoe were two red gems that also glowed. He suddenly dodged to the right when a blue bolt of mana shot up from the streets below. _What in the, is it another incursion, has the war begun again or….oh wait it's just him._ The red head thought as he let out a breath he was holding as a figure in a blue bodysuit with blue gloves and a blue helmet with a full facemask jumped in front of him, next to him appeared a five foot tall blue knight with a sword with a green blade in its left hand and its right hand had a shield built into the gauntlet, it had tear shaped green gems set in its shoulders, its helmet had two bull horns. Seeing the two of them the redhead just sighed and shook his head.

"Oh, it's just you two. And here I thought something else was loss in Paris. I mean it's been a long time since the two of us have seen each other so how are you, how have you been especially after that large incident last month, your mother, your sister are they okay?" He asked as he looked at the figures before him and turned away.

"I'd love to stay and chat but I have to get back to my home, you know how it is, places to be and people to talk to…" He trailed off as a blue bolt flashed by his head and turned back and sighed as he shook his head.

"Must we do this tonight; I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm not connected to those people you're after. I'm not even trying to harvest any Creature mana tonight, just looking at a rival of mine that moved into the city, so nothing to bother you. You let me go and I'll stay home for a few days, how about that?" The redhead asked as the two before him just looked at him as the blue figure brought up its arms and a white glow formed around his hands and a blue circle shield and a short blue sword appeared as the purple creature point its blade at the redhead. The redhead just sighed and brought out a crystal that he threw before him, shattering it before a summoning portal appeared and a five foot tall red humanoid lizard with a slim build wearing black pants and two leather shoulder armor and short metal clawed gauntlets on its hands appeared. The redhead held out his hands as a white glow formed around them and two short swords appeared and he looked at the blue figure with a bloodthirsty grinned on his face as he looked across at his opponent.

"Well then, that's fine with me my old foe, I'm always up for a duel together. But don't you dare blame me if this old contest of ours finally brings the so called heroes down on our heads!" He called out as he and the lizard Kaiju ran at the other two as they counter charged at them, both of the humans' weapons gaining a blue and red glow respectful before they met as the Kaijus threw themselves at each other.


	2. 02 Wraith of Dryad

Here's chapter 2, a new chapter and a new summery! After this I'll be finish up my Pokemon story and the AU will be out at the end of the month, and I found a way around a problem I was having with writing it so here's hoping it will be out faster and the final note I hope you all enjoy this people!

Chapter 2/ Wraith of Dryad

An energy portal opened in a darkened room and a small humanoid figure threw itself through and raised its arms and shot two icicles back through the portal. _Got to move, I made it to….this is, where in Darkness am I? No find out where you are later escape now!_ The figure thought as they looked around and shot towards a part of the room as a large looking biped came out of the portal and raised a hand that shot a fireball at the figure, missing the first figure exploded against the wall. The figure dashed through a door way and ran down the hallway with the figure behind following, flames coming at the first as it dodged left and right, the fireballs exploding and causing the structure they were in to catch fire.

"ROOOOOR!" Another figure screamed as more beings came through the portal and charged out of the room after the first two, joining the second in the chase, the portal sealing with a boom as they left the room. They came out into a long hallway and saw the figure running towards an open door and charged after it howling and throwing balls of fire that missed and hit either the walls or the floors, causing fires that set off sprinklers. The cloaked figure put a hand behind it and lances of ice shot out and hit either some of the chasers or the walls, buy the first time to get into the door way and ran up the stairs, the pack of chasers following behind and made it the first landing as their target ran through a door.

The first figure dashed through the hallways, trying not to look behind it as they ran. _Got to get away, my bomb should take out the generator and I'll be able to sneak through this building until I can get to somewhere I can….wait where is this place? No I couldn't be where I might be, couldn't be __**there**_ _then could I, I mean I heard the myths but I thought they were just stories? _The first figure thoughtas they dashed into an open courtyard with a staircase leading up to the second floor, the moon shinning down from overhead. The figure looked at the moon and felt a sense of awe as they stared at it before a screeched from behind made it remember it wasn't alone.

The first spun around and pointed slender looking arms at the chasing figures and fired more icicles, some of the icicles hitting the figures and causing them to disappear. The first spun as the second attacked with claws engulfed in fire and suddenly it had a sword of pure ice that slashed at the second which dodged a blow and roared at the first as they exchanged blows. A muffled explosion caused the second figure to attack faster, the first figure moving backwards and dodging and striking at the second. After a few blows the second figure moved backwards and started to throw fireballs at the first, all of them missing and causing the fire to spread. The first figure pointed down and suddenly the courtyard was covered in ice. As the second figure started to slip the first one was there and brought the blade down and the second disappeared.

The first figure looked around and when it realized it was the only one in the courtyard it dropped to the ground and shook as they went over what had happened. A feminine giggle came from the figure as they shook and hugged herself as she shook.

"I did it, I got out of that prison before he _took_ me. I'm in the lost world, I made it out of the Darkness Realm and they can't get me, I'm _free_." A female voice said as the fire gave off enough light for the figure to be seen. The figure was wearing a blue cloak that covered a feminine body; the figure's arms were covered in a purplish blue material with an emitter of some kind on both arms, the legs covered in the same material ending in flats with exhaust ports on the back side. The girl looked around as flames climbed the structure and tried to figure out where she could go. "Come on girl, you fought your way free led those scum into Megaria's hands, a little fire won't kill you now." She muttered as she got back to her feet before her head snapped towards the sound of a siren as the flames hugged the building before water stared to pour over the building.

"YOU TWO GET THE HOSES SET UP NOW!" A voice from beyond the courtyard caused the girl to look towards it as water started to rain down. Looking around franticly she saw a doorway that wasn't on fire and dashed towards through it, coming into a room with lockers all around. Looking around she saw an area that was hidden and dashed to it, pulling her cloak about her she heard the door pushed open and she hunkered down. The figure cowed deeper into her cloak as she heard a person walk into the room, she put most of all her mana into her cloak as whoever the person was walking towards her. She slowly moved a hand towards where the sounds she heard, slowly opening it and as she readied herself to strike when she heard another figure come into room._ One or many, I won't be taken ever again, I don't care who they are I won't go down without a fight ever again!_ She thought as she prepared herself for combat.

"What's the matter?" She went still as she heard the first person move away from her hiding place and back out the door.

"Nothing I thought I saw someone run into here, it's nothing, let's make sure this fire's dead!"

"Fire's dead out here, we just have to find out what started it and check the insides, never seen the like before. Don't think it could have been an Akuma right, I mean wouldn't Chat and Ladybug be here if it was?"

"Even Superheroes need to sleep man, and how would they know it was here? Use your head for something beyond just having something to put a hat on."

The figure kept her head down as she heard the sounds of people moving outside of her haven, she knew she should stay awake but she just felt so _tired_. She had fought her way free and she had done it, she had gotten away from her the people who had been holding her captive all her life, she could wait a bit until whoever was out there left, she could rest her eyes. If she just rested her body for a few minutes it wouldn't be too bad, just for a little while to rest her eyes. She made herself more comfortable as she put her cloak to automatic and closed her eyes and leaned against the wall as she closed her eyes. A few minutes later she was asleep, dead to the world as a drop of blood seeped through the sleeve on her right arm.

Marinette looked at the school as she walked toward her friends in front of the main entrance, the school's front looked soaked, the commotion last night been terrible, and a single fire engine was still around and firefighters were still checking the inside. The school's blog had posted to everyone to just come in at eleven and they would hear what would happen then. As she looked about she frowned when she saw a few police officers talking with each other, something about how they were there was _wrong_ to her. Shaking her head she smiled when she finally saw where Chloe and Adrien were and walked over.

"I still don't get why you think it's a good idea not to confront that lying witch." Chloe said as she watched Lila walk towards the largest grouping of students. Adrien just looked at Lila with a slight scowl as he remembered how she was her during the catacombs incident, a small part of him thinking that she had left the covering above the ladder Queen Bee had tried to use to get the civilians away closed to get Marinette or Chloe hurt, but she was just someone who told tall tales.

"Blood Show, that's all I think I'll need to say." Adrien said causing Chloe's mouth to drop open before she winced. Marinette looked between them and knew she was missing something.

"Okay yeah, I can see where you're coming from now." Chloe said as Marinette looked at her, convened that she was missing something.

"Blood Show, what are you talking about?" Marinette asked only for Chloe to look at her in shock.

"The worst fashion show this city ever had, it was about four years ago, with how much you love fashion I'm surprised you never heard about it." Chloe said as Marinette mouth dropped open before she understood when it was.

"Four years ago I spent about two months with my grandmother in Hong-Kong, there was a sudden death in the family and mom and I stayed there to help put their affairs in order and help out, and then we traveled with mom's sister and her family for about a month." Marinette said, causing Chloe and Adrien to both wince at this.

"Oh. Well long story short it was one of the reasons my mom moved to New York. Basically a fashion show where Adrien, his dad me and my mom were at, somebody called this liar out and she, the liar had a mental break down because of it, straw that broke a camel's back and all that really. And before they could get the liar contained, well she got her hands on a pair of scissors and then there was fire, chaos and blood and maybe a death or two, no wait, someone was just sent into a coma for a few months." Chloe said as Marinette stared at Chloe before looking at Adrien in total shock.

"And then you factor in Hawkmoth and maybe it'll be even worse. So that's why you said to take the high road." Marinette breathed as Adrien nodded at her.

"Yeah, she's seems to be a classic social climber with her lies but really overtime she can only hurt herself, I think we just have to ignore her. And to be fair you were going to confront her where if she snapped she would've had a weapon on hand." Adrien said as Marinette looked at him with a confused expression, wondering what in the hallway could have been a weapon.

"What weapon?" Chloe asked as she gained a scowl as she looked at Lila, wondering if something had happened that might help her mission to see her expelled.

"The fire extinguisher, after you see one used to bludgeon someone you never forget it." Adrien clarified and Marinette looked away, a slight blush on her face as she understood what he was saying as Chloe looked on, starting to snicker that grew into full blown laughter.

"So you remember when that model used one to deal with a stalker?" Chloe was able to wheeze out as she laughed as she leaned against the wall as tears came from her eyes. At the look Marinette sent her Chloe explained as she caught her breath.

"Okay it was about three years ago, my birthday and well I wanted to have a meal with my brother so I went to a photo shoot until he was done and then we heard screaming coming from a dressing room! The story I head later was this stalker had been sending this model flowers and candy for months, finally she, and the stalker was a she, came herself holding a bouquet. The model was so freaked out she grabbed a nearby fire extinguisher and fired it at the stalker. Once it was empty the model just started to swing it at her, wailing and screaming all the while, it took two people to get it out of her hands and they had to send the stalker to the hospital. Last I heard the model was in Germany at a convent and the stalker was in an asylum." Chloe said as she got herself under control, Adrien only looked sheepish as he looked away with a blush as Marinette whipped her head around to look at Lila as she held court telling one of her tales and imagined her grabbing the fire extinguisher and going crazy with it and Marinette winced.

"Yeah, that was hard to forget. But like I said sooner or later she'll just crash and burn, we just have to outlast her and stay out of the blast zone. And let me be clear, I just said that we should take the high road because I really don't want to be at ground zero for an Akuma spawned by rage and _maybe_ extra power." Adrien said with a hard look before he looked shocked at what he said. Chloe looked at him before turning to stare at Lila as she talked and turned back to him slowly when she realized what he wasn't saying.

"You think it's possible for Hawkmoth to supercharge his Akumas, but why her?" Chloe asked with a dry tone as Ardien winced as Marinette looked shocked. _I had hoped to talk to Alya about this first and ask her thoughts about it, but maybe I should let them know about it._ Adrien thought as he sighed.

"Yeah, I do. I've been watching the Ladyblog and lately the Akumas just seem …stronger. I What I've seen on the Ladyblog lately, they just seem _different _you know, I just, I don't know maybe I'm wrong but I want anything like Hero Day to ever happen again, I don't want to give Hawkmoth a chance to create another fake Chat Noir or Ladybug with Volpina." Adrien said as he scratched his head.

Marinette fought to keep down her shock as she realized that he might have something and Chloe just looked at him with confusion, wondering what he was talking about._ Yeah Hero Day was terrible, but what does Lila have to do with…._Chloe thought as she went still and remembered how all of Paris was convinced that their heroes had been Akumatized and suddenly a few things came into focus and clicked together in Chole's head.

"Wait, Wait. Lila is Volpina, as in the bitch who almost dropped you from the Tower!?" Chloe demanded quietly as she looked at Lila with a scowl, Marinette meanwhile looked at Adrien and tried to keep what she was thinking off her face. _ How the heck does he know, was it possible, is he Chat?_ Marinette thought as she looked at Adrien who looked away.

"That was a fake, see I wasn't anywhere near the Tower when she first appeared. And then, after that the fake Chat Noir and Ladybug appeared and then it was shown to be an illusion and the fact that 'I' was almost dropped I figured Volpina was back, her power was illusion and well when she came back I just didn't want to set her off again, and people who are the cause of an Akuma's rage are usually the first targets, at least according to the Ladyblog. Still don't know what her deal was with the TV conference or how she set it up." Adrien said as Marinetta looked a little confused as Chloe glared at Lila.

"So you're saying let's not rock the boat to be better people, don't rock the boat for less collateral damage and becoming her targets, if you think she that's unhinged, why would she even be in a school!?" Marinette exclaimed as Adrien nodded at her with a sheepish look on his face.

"Yeah well, never doubt what people will do to keep their dirty laundry buried, and diplomatic immunity is a thing according to a few models I've talk with over the years. So sorry if I didn't explain my point clear Marinette, I mean she was willing to let the heroes think she'd 'kill me' when she was an Akuma and I really don't want to see what she'd do the fourth time. I mean she just lying about herself, sooner or later she crash and burn and we can wait her out. I mean, she hasn't threatened anyone right?" Adrien said a wide smile only for his face to fall at the look Marinette gained as Chloe started to growl under her breath. _Marinette, what the….please no._ Adrien thought as he started to grow worried.

"She hasn't threatened you, right Marinette?" Adrien asked flatly only for Marinette to look down and Chloe's scowl to deepen.

"She basically said she'll make Marinette the school pariah and get her expelled." Chloe bit out as she watched Adrien face as he went slack jawed before starting to look murderous as he slowly turned his head to look at Lila before he forced his face to become emotionless, the same mask he usually had with his father, the sight of it causing Chloe's scowl to grow worse.

"I thought she was just a liar who'd contradict herself sooner or later, but she threatened you Marinette?" Adrien growled as Chloe looked on, a hint of approval in her eyes.

"So since we're all caught up how will we expose that little bitch of a witch?" Chloe said as she saw Adrien's eyes grow cold at what he had just learned._ And that's why I have to get you two together brother, you guys deserve each other so much. And I might have to, no I __**need**__ talk to Tom about him and Sabine teaching you to make your point better though._ Chloe thought as she shook her head before she went still as she finally realized what she had just heard and turned to Adiren who went still before slowly turned back to look at her as and paled as she glared at him.

"Adrikins before that, what exactly do you mean _fourth time_?" Chloe purred sweetly as Adrien got a deer in a headlights expression.

"IIII think she was that shapeshifter that made a problem in school about a week or so back, she kinda walked off in a huff when we were having a talk and a little later well….." Adrien trailed off as he looked a little sheepish. Marinette only looked at him before she face palmed and Chloe stared at Adrien.

"Three times, good god she's been an Akuma three times…. Wait the shape-shifter wasn't Volpina! He can turn people into different Akuma?!" Chloe asked with shock, remembering how she couldn't get away from the lockdown Principal Damocles had set off and help, frowning as she tried to think what that meant. _This is bad, we know nothing about Akumas or how he empowers his victims, if he can tailor their abilities and looks then we're in real trouble, if he's just trying to see what works the best before trying to hit us with a mass attack with similar abilities, even summoning won't help us….wait shapeshifting is like illusion so maybe…. I've got to talk to the others about this if I'm right then we might not be in as much trouble._ Chloe thought as she looked towards the road and perked up when she saw Sabrina walking slowly towards them.

"There you are Sabrina, I was getting worried; you're usually here before me if you don't meet me at the hotel!" Chloe said as Adrien and Marinette turned and saw Sabrina, and Chloe frowned when she noticed the bags under Sabrina's eyes and that Sabrina seemed to be a little tiered for some reason. Walking to her she grabbed her and brought her towards the others, both Adrien and Marinette looking concerned about how she looked.

"Are you okay Sabrina, you look terrible!" Chloe said as Marinette and Adrien looked up as Chloe led Sabrina to them. Sabrina looked up at her friends and smiled at them shakily.

"Dad was called in when this happened, and I just couldn't fall back asleep." Sabrina said as she looked up at the school as Chloe hide a wince while Adrien shot a look at Marinette as their faces fell. _Oh this is so not good, did they find evidence of an Akuma or a dead body?_ Adrien thought as he tried to keep his worry off his face. Sabrina's father had been rotated out of the Akuma taskforce after Hero's Day at his request, something about needing some normal crime to recover and the commissioner had accepted his request but told him he'd have a place on the Taskforce if he ever wanted to come back. The only department that needed a new member was homicide and for him to have been called wasn't good at all. A hush spreading caused the four friends to turn and saw Principal Damocles come out of the school with Sabrina's father and one of the firemen walking behind him.

"Can everyone hear me; gather closer if you can't….good." Principal Damocles said as he looked around and saw the students moving towards him and waited a few seconds. "The damage wasn't as bad is it could be but we will be closed for the rest of the weak as repairs are made and the stability of the upper floors are checked over. But don't think this is a vacation, your teachers have been instructed to send out research papers that will be due next Monday so good luck!"

As the students groaned Chloe smirked as she looked over at Lila but frowned at the smile she had on face. _The witch is probably planning to have one of her 'pawns' do the work for her. We have to expose her before to many people are hurt….and I have to tell Adrien __**how**__ they could be hurt, why did you have to keep him in the mansion for so long Uncle Gabriel?_ Chloe thought as she looked at Adrien out of the corner of her eyes as she tried to figure out what she would do with her 'free days'. Her frowned grew deeper when she saw Marinette take her phone out and read a text, nodding before sending a quick one a second before Chloe felt her own phone vibrate through her purse. She looked down at it and threw a glance at Marinette as Nino and Alya were walking towards Lila.

"Say I have an idea, how about we all spend a few hours by the Selene, I've heard that a new band has been playing there lately, and the people I've heard talk about them said they've been great, some very romantic songs." Chloe said with a smirk as Adrien perked up and Marinette blushed as Sabrina giggle.

"Mr. Agreste, there you are!" A voice caused the four friends to turn as Mr. D'Argencourt walking towards them. "There you are, once I heard what happened I knew that we needed a new place to practice for a while. I've talked with Madame Tsurugi and we're able to use her dojo. Since we have a match soon the team will be using the next few days for training in the morning." Mr. D'Argencourt barked as he passed by, on the way to get another member of the team.

Adrien looked at the girls and shrugged. "I guess I'll have to take a rain check on the walk, I'll just let dad know about this and I guess I'll see you girls later." He said before he walked away.

Chloe just stared after Adrien as he walked away before she started to growl as she turned and looked at Mr. D'Argencourt with murder in her eyes. "I thought I couldn't hate him for losing the election, Marinette could you make me a voodoo doll of him?" Chloe asked as Sabrina just reached over and patted her shoulder as Marinette just face palmed.

"Still want to go Mari?" Sabrina asked only Marinette shook her head as she reached into her bag and looked away.

"No, I have something I need to do, how about we all talk about what essays our teachers give us and make some plans to deal with them?" Marinette asked causing Chloe to nod and Sabrina to pump her fist with a smirk.

"So want to go watch the latest drama at my room and check what papers we have to write?" Sabrina asked Chloe with a smile.

Nino watched as Chloe and Sabrina walked away from Marinette and frowned, something about that made him feel worse. Ever since he had gotten back from the catacombs he had been feeling so wrong, like he was cold and the way his brother was talking about Lila had really bothered him for some reason. _I don't think I'll let her watch him ever again, I don't trust her around him… and maybe I should talk to Ayla about that too._ He thought as they walked towards where Lila and the others were.

"….this really isn't too bad, why I remember when a teacher gave out a surprise paper that she said would be worth half our grades. But how about we head over to the Tuileries Garden and hang out a bit?" Lila said to Kim, Alix and Nathaniel as the others who had been listening to the principle away from the building, some of them chatting together about what to do over the next few days.

"Love to Lila but Ondine and I've got a swim meet next weekend, if the fencing team is practicing then we'd better go do our part too." Kim said as he shook his head and walked off, waving to them as he left.

Lila looked after him and forced down a scowl, keeping a smile on her face. _Another one of my pawn's having someone else more important than me alright. I think maybe I should meet this Ondine and make 'friends' with her_. Lila thought as she tried to figure out how she would deal with this.

A beep caused her to turn to look at Nino who took his phone out and frowned and looked up from it. "Sorry dudes, I sent my mom the details on what happened and she told me to get some food for tonight, sorry I guess I'll maybe see if I can join you all at the park once I'm done." He said as he hugged Ayla and walked away.

Alya looked back at Lila and saw her face tense for a second before she got it back under control and hid her own scowl. _I knew there was something about you! Just you wait, I'm going to get __**everything**__ there is about you and expose you._ Alya thought as she smiled at Lila and tried to plicate her. "Don't feel too bad about him leaving Lila. Trust me, you don't want to get on Nino's mom's bad side, guess we'll see him where he's done."

Max stood by himself, looking at the school with a mournful look on his face as he just sighed. _I don't like this, but I guess this will a nice little vacation, I can finish the papers early and then this will give me a bit of time to work on a few __**projects**__. _He thought as he felt something move about in his bag and he opened it to look at Markov.

"Max since we don't need to stay here, shouldn't we head home? If we can get the subjects for the papers I can gather the research for you to look over tonight while we can have a chess match." Markov said as Max chuckled at his friend.

"Yeah that sounds good Markov, say how are your social research subroutines? There's someone I need a report on." Max said as Markov just sat with Max's bag and looked at his friend. _If I can find a single point that explain anything about him being awake with us, then maybe I'll be able to find an understanding about how Hawkmoth's magic 'works' if he wasn't an Akuma! If that's possible I might change the world!_ He thought as he turned and started to walk back towards his home when suddenly…. "Mr. Kanté? Could I talk to you please?" Principal Damocles called out causing Max to stop and turn, seeing him gesturing for him to join him and Miss Bustier he walked over.

"I'm going to be blunt; would you mind helping us make sure the computer system is functioning? We will pay you an honest wage of course." Principal Damocles said as Max grew worried, if the system was damaged then what would happen to all the grades, and shouldn't someone else, official for this?

"Doesn't the city have someone official that could do this sir and if the system is damaged what's the state of our records…" Max began only for Miss B to giggle a little as Principal Damocles went red with a bashful look.

"We do, but he and his new wife left on their honeymoon two days ago, their probably somewhere in the wildness backpack to Budapest by now, so there's no way to get in contact with them. Thankful the offsite backup you suggested was finished before he left so the school's records weren't in danger." Miss Bustier explained to Max who sighed in relief.

Max looked into the school and frowned as he looked over the damages that were already being looked over by inspectors._ I'd need one of them to stay and back me up, because I know someone will make a stink about a 'kid' being here. But any money I get could only help me get supplies for my inventions and I'll be free for a few days anyway soooo. _Max thought as he made his decision

"I'll be happy to do it for how many mornings it takes Principal Damocles, but I'll need someone to stay with me and vouch for me to be there, the chance that someone might have a problem with me being here and won't listen to me is about ninety percent." Max said as he gestured towards the police and workmen already in the building.

Principal Damocles turned and followed Max's gesture, frowning before nodding as he realized what Max wasn't saying. _He's right, someone will make trouble for him, I need someone who could act as a shield and is here, I need to talk to the mayor about the repairs and then there's that meeting so…._ He stopped when he realized the perfect person to handle this.

"Miss Bustier would you mind staying and helping Mr. Kanté, I would stay but I really have people to talk to about this and a few other things I really have to look over." Principal Damocles said before he rushed off towards city hall.

"Does Mr. Damocles make a habit of walking off before getting an answer Madame Bustier?" Markov asked causing Miss Bustier to just look at him as he walked away, some part of her not even shocked.

Max looked after Mr. Damacoles and sighed. "Given what gossip I've heard, I would estimate that he does with a seventy percent chance." Miss Buster just sighed and looked at her student with a deadpanned look.

"Yes, according to Ms. Mendeleiev. I didn't even get to talk to him about giving Malcolm an interview." Max looked at Miss Bustier as she said this and frowned, still thinking Malcolm was hiding something.

Gabriel frowned as he put his phone down and scowled. _Why was Adrien's school set on fire, it doesn't make any sense at all. I never set an Akuma to do damage so who… I'll know more once I'm sent the report once it's finished. _Gabrielthought as he looked at his wife's painting and tried to understand what was happening.

Nooroo looked at his _master_ and tried to not to let what was happening bother him too much, his thoughts running wild. _It was a risk to let him know about others who use can Mana, but maybe this is a good think. If he puts his efforts into finding another way to wake her up, he might stop sending Akuma's after the other Kwami and their chosen. I care about her to but this isn't the way master, if you can try and find the right way I know you will get your family back!_

The sound of the door opening caused Nooroo to dodge into the wall and Gabriel to turn towards it and saw Nathalie walk into the office holding her tablet.

"I just received a message from Adrien's bodyguard. Mr. D'Argencourt has arranged the use of Madame Tsurugi's dojo for practice in preparation of the match this Saturday. The school is estimated to reopen next Monday and the teachers sent out papers due then. I looked over the new photo-shoot schedule and Adrien doesn't have one scheduled until this Sunday around 2 so I planned to help him with his first research paper like when he was home schooled. Also I took the liberty of rearranging his other lessons for the rest of the weak." Nathalie said as she looked at him. "Also the catacombs will be closed for at least the next month, all the tunnels on all levels are being checked by ground penetrating radar and the local colleges were sent a challenge to design a drone able to do that, should we look into that, it might create an…opportunity for us, epically giving what we know about Ladybug's cure."

Gabriel nodded, his mind going over _possibilities_ that he could use from the kind of people that would work on that project. _A robotics expert would be something different, the possibilities are interesting to consider even if he fails, but then what that AI I used before when it betrayed me I would have to make sure this one has the right power….but then are the Miraculous of the Black Cat and Ladybug the only way I can save her…but if there is another way then how could I find it? _Gabriel thought as he looked at his wife's painting before a stray thought hit him. "Oh, Natalie what about the job I gave you last night, how much progresses have you made?"

Nathalie nodded and pressed a few buttons on her tablet and a map of two levels of the catacombs appeared on the monitor behind the desk. "I've been able to put together maps for the top two levels of the catacombs as of one hour ago. The identities of the workers assigned were hidden behind a high level firewall, I've hired a freelancer using Account 66 to get bios and to track their movements for the last ten years, and I expect to have a reply by the next day."

"Perfect Nathalie, thank you" Gabriel said as he looked over the map and traced a path that he and his wife had walked once on their first 'date' and sighed. _What is it, what were they after? What could have been the point of taking a tour group of all things hostage, were they hunting for someone? _He thought as he looked at the map as Nathalie walked towards him.

"As for the other matter sir, I started to look into the legends about healing and found a few leads. I don't know what the truth about them but I also looked into vitality increase as well." Nathalie reported as she stood next to him. "Also I would advise that if the catacombs have to have any significant work done the company should donate part of it, tax season is soon and every little bit counts."

"Of course Nathalie, see that it's done." Gabriel said as he looked ahead, his mind spinning. _What were they after, what was the reason to do that it makes no sense what so ever! _Gabriel thought as he stood there, so intent on his thoughts that he never noticed the look Nooroo sent him.

"You're thinking about what happened down there, aren't you?" Nathalie said causing Gabriel to look at her, having forgotten she was even there. "Two years of this has made me a better planner and how to read you but what happened stumps me sir, I can think of nothing that makes sense"

"Yes, it does doesn't it. I spent hours last night thinking about it and nothing comes to mind that would have a single positive result for them or him taking a class or tour group captive." Gabriel said as he looked at the painting of his wife. _I could see if someone was trying for ransom, but according to the victims they were all kept knocked out so that's a possibility but a blind strike? _Gabriel thought as he tried to think of anything to explain what had happened.

Nathalie looked at him as he brooded and sighed. _Of course the idiot's still hung up on what happened. That little thing never explained properly…wait. Maybe that's why they were taken captive, but what does it mean for us._ Nathalie thought as she went still. "I just had a thought, what if the group wasn't captured because of who they were but because of _where_ they were."

Gabriel looked at her and frowned, prompting her to continue.

"What if whoever was behind it needed the location in the catacombs to make those spiders? Then the group was captured because they stumbled across their lair?" Nathalie asked as Gabriel turned towards Nooroo who looked conflated.

"Nooroo, what haven't you told me about that Alchemist?" Gabriel demanded as Nooroo looked at him.

"Many things master, do you want to know more about it?" Nooroo asked as he floated there, looking pained. Gabriel looked up and was about to scold him when he saw the expression on the Kwami's face and saw a spark in his eyes that told him something was wrong. _What could be affecting him, he always tells me whatever I ask….whatever I ask him._

"Wait…Can you tell me things beyond what I ask? Is anything at all keeping you from speaking?" Gabriel demanded as Nathalie looked at him before turning inquisitive eyes on the Kwami who nodded.

"My master before you….the one who used spells to change how I interact with my wielder, one of the permanent commands he gave me was not to talk about anything he didn't want to hear." Nooroo said as he looked at Gabriel. "He told me not to bring up things he didn't ask for."

Gabriel pinched his noise and closed his eyes. "And since I never asked about other ways to save my wife, you couldn't tell me anything. Then is there a way for me to cancel them?"

"The only way is to hold the artifact that he used to focus the spell and to give a command for me to disregard all commands, that alone will break it." Nooroo said as Gabriel looked at him.

"Something to look for. But tell me everything you know about Alchemists." Gabriel commanded as Nooroo nodded.

"Ancient saying, to attack and Alchemist in their lab is to court death itself. An Alchemist can do _anything_ in their labs, from making poisons to crafting monsters to defend themselves." Nooroo said as Gabriel jolted in place before looking at Nooroo intently.

"Even cure any illness?" Gabriel asked a spark of hope forming that fell when Nooroo look of sadness grew worse and his eyes gained a look of pain.

"In the ancient past there were many Alchemists who studied their art to heal…..but how to find one in this age, I'm sorry master but most of them are no doubt either dead or in hiding so deep I don't know how to find them." Nooroo said as he hung his head before muttering. "The Thules were efficient hunters."

Gabriel scowl grew as he heard that and missed the mutter but Nathalie heard Nooroo clearly.

"Wait, _the Thules!? _As in the Thule Society?!" Nathalie demanded as Gabriel jolted in place and looked at Nooroo who nodded.

"Those….monsters were active before they joined the Nazis." Nooroo said as he floated there and looked sad and wistful. "Before they killed my last true holder, the Guardian who held me cast a spell to put me and it asleep for years, breaking that allowed that one to cast those spells that even now chain me."

Gabriel looked at the Kwami and understood what he wasn't saying before feeling a chill. _Or couldn't say, If they had such an effect on how he can interact then what happened to my wife might have been!_ Gabriel went cold as thoughts went through him as he face hardened.

"What did they do, the Thules what did they do with mana?"

Nooroo looked at Gabriel and sighed. _He's getting better at seeing the connections, I knew if I dangled enough information he would see what I wanted him to, if I can channel him away from the Miraculous._ He thought as he looked at his holder. "They created terrors that never reached the production stage and a few traps disguised as jewelry so anyone who took it as war plunder would set it off if they held it for too long, either death or sleep if I remember right."

Gabriel looked at the Kwami and frowned. "Can the Miraculous of Chat Noir and Ladybug save her without resorting to the wish, could anything else save her?"

Nooroo looked conflicted as he floated there, hovering in a way that Gabriel knew that he only did when he was trying to think. "Yes master, if her state was because of one of what those monsters made then either the Black Cat could destroy it or the Ladybug could create a way to cure it. But if her state is the result of a curse then something else, a spell or a healer could save her."

"Nathalie, I want you to find everything you can about any surviving members of that that _abomination_,every rumor and the location of every member that traveled to the Himalayans, then I want to know where those people were stationed during the war. Nooroo, follow me." Gabriel said as he opened the passage to his lair, Nooroo following. "Nooroo I want to know everything that you weren't able to tell me about your abilities, everything you ever wanted to tell me but you couldn't before."

"First master you should know, reincarnation is a thing." Nooroo began before the elevator closed and Nathalie looked at it before going towards her desk and starting up a browser to check the dark net for anything she could find to start her new mission.

Marinette stood in an alley and snuck a glance around the corner and saw the café Nino had told her to meet at and frowned. _I just don't know if I can do this, I mean I saw Alya walk off with Lila, can I trust that Nino 'broke' whatever she's using to influence them, if she's using something?_ She thought as she tried to decide what to do.

"Go on Marinette." A voice from her purse caused her to look down at Tikki as she sat within her purse.

"I don't know Tikki, I mean I trust Nino but if Chloe's right and she is using something to….._influence_ them then can I trust them?" Marinette asked as she tried to work up the courage to go.

"Nino's one of your oldest friends from what I've learned during our partnership, and if he's found a way around whatever Lila has, if she has something then you should give him a chance, if he broke it and woke his mana then maybe that's why he broke it." Tikki said as Marinette looked down at her.

"Have you ever dealt with someone who controlled others like this?" Marinette askedand saw Tikki nod back at her with a firm look.

"A few times over the centuries, yes. Strength of will, their mana waking up or either distance or time always led to some people breaking free. If Lila is either controlling or influencing them we need to know, we can't let Hawkmoth find out that's possible, if he forces Nooroo to tell him all he knows about mana users!" Tikki trailed off and Marinette gained a look of horror, Tikki had given her a few examples about what previous users had fought and they scared her, if an akuma could do half of what she was told was possible. _I have to talk to the others about this, maybe when we meet up for patrol after the next Akuma! If a mana user ever became one…wait. How could Nino have 'woken up'? _Marinette asked as she realized that Nino hadn't carried Wayzz Miraculous twenty-four hours total yet.

"How could Nino have woken his mana?" Marinette asked in cold tone that caused Tikki to duck back into the purse.

"It could be a combination of how he was an Akuma, how long he had Wayzz Miraculous and Hero Day. As I've told you, Nooroo being used to create Akumas aren't a….natural use of his abilities, he used them in the past to create free willed Champions to fight….and sometimes it was shown to have to activate the Champion's mana." Tikki said as Marinette started to understand before she paled in freight as she made connections in her head.

"Tikki, mana lets us do more, like summon the Creatures, right? So if that's true then if someone with their mana active, wouldn't the Akuma be stronger?" Tikki looked confused and started to think before she looked unsure as she floated there.

"I don't know, you'd have to talk to the guardian, he'd know more about Nooroo's abilities then I do. But don't you have someone to meet?" Tikki asked as Marinette sighed and decided to take a chance.

Marinette walked towards the café and stopped at the matradee and smiled. "Pardon me, but I'm meeting a Mr. Lahiffe here?" She said as the woman looked over the clipboard before her and smiled up at Marinette.

"Yes follow me you're on the back patio." She said before she led Marinette into the restaurant and through a set of doors. They came out onto a small deck hidden by the buildings overlooking the river and here and there were tables, some of them had people sitting and talking, some people were looking over the river and there by the railing at the edge was Nino waiting for her. As she walked over to the table Nino looked up as he heard her footsteps and smiled shakily at her.

"Hey Mari, crazy about what happened to the school, hu?" Nino said as she sat down and looked at him. He just sighed and looked at her but for the next few seconds two were both silent before the watress came by, took their orders and left. After a few more moments Nino sighed and looked at her, pain in her eyes causing Marinette to want to believe Nino really was being truthful with her.

"Nino..."

"Mari…"

Marinette and Nino looked at each other as they both blinked and laughed a little before the waitress came by and set down two cup before pouring the tea. Nino just sighed and squared his shoulders before looking at her eyes.

"I so sorry dudette, I don't know why me and Alya treated you like we did for the last two weeks, I just don't have a single clue to explain our actions." Nino said as Marinette looked back at him. Marinette only looked at Nino and sighed. _I think he's telling the truth and that means Chloe might be right about Lila, and that scares me more than I can think. How many other threats are there out there and where did Lila get whatever she's using? _Marinette thought as she tried to let the tea calm her.

"You figured it out Nino that's what's important." Marinette said as she slowly sipped her tea as she looked at him.

"Yeah but we gotta figure out how to tell the others, Adrien's gotta know what kind of person she is sooner before she does something to him…." Nino said only to trail off as Marinette shook her head

"He knew from the start Nino, and originally he didn't want to confront her." Marinette said causing his mouth to drop and stare at her for a few seconds before he exploded.

"Why the heck didn't Adrien want to expose the witch?!" Nino demanded as he scowled. _Dude, you'd better have a good reason or so help me!_ Nino thought as Marinette just sighed and shook her head.

"He mentioned Blood Show and well….you've heard of it then?" Marinette trailed off as she saw Nino gained a look of understanding as soon as he realized what she had said as he dropped back onto the chair.

"Was walking by there when the ambulance and fire trucks came along, heard about it that night and well you don't forget something that crazy. I remember hearing someone had a break down and went psycho, someone called them on a lie or something?" Nino asked as Marinette nodded.

"I was out of the country for a few months back then and well yeah according to Adrien that's what happened. He basically feared she might make an Akuma that was….crazy or homicidal." Marinette said as Nino slapped his forehead as he remembered that summer and how the media covered 'Blood Show'.

"So bro thought about that if we confronted Lila she might have a breakdown and call an Akuma that would be worse than usual? Yeah, I could totally see that happening with her." Nino said as he sighed._ You gotta learn to explain things better Adrien, you just gotta. _

"He basically thought that she would contradict herself sooner or later, but unfortunately he didn't know that she threatened to get me expelled." Marinette stopped talking when Nino eyes went hard.

"She did what? Marinette I can't apologies for Alya and me enough for ever giving that bitch a single inch! I mean looking back her stories were so, eggghhh! I can't believe that I ever believed them!" Nino said as he held his head._ God I'm so stupid, how could I even think even half of her tales could even be possible! I mean really!_ Nino thought as he held his head.

Marinette looked at Nino and felt conflicted as she saw the feelings on his face. _I want to believe him but I can't trust that Lila's not behind this?_ She thought as she looked at Nino "Listen Nino, how did you two realize the truth, what happened to you guys?" Marinette asked as she sipped her tear.

"We….Alya and me we just realized something was wrong when we were running from those spiders, it's like a switch was flipped and suddenly we saw everything that happened in the last few weeks clear headed." Nino said as he looked down at the table.

Marinette looked at him; feeling conflicted about what she could say. _So Tikki was right, their mana did wake up, but how….That doesn't matter, if Lila gets something stronger I don't know if I could ever forgive myself for not warning them._ Marinette sighed and looked at Nino. "Listen Nino; remember Rose's Akuma, Princess Fragrance, her ability? Doesn't the way you've all been acting about Lila seem the same way that power worked?"

Nino looked like someone had slapped him and stared back at Marinette as he paled. "Are you saying, that Lila used something to….make us believe in her lies?" Nino asked in a shaken tone.

"I think there's a chance. Where she could have gotten it I don't know, but theres…Nino, what is it?" Marinette asked as Nino started to look shaken.

"Oh damn it Alya!" Nino said as Marinette looked at him with a sinking feeling that slowly started caused her to glare at him.

"What is she doing now; tell me it's not like when she got suspended?" Marinette asked as Nino looked conflicted before he sighed.

"She's getting closer to Lila; something about finding out everything she could to expose her." Nino said as Marinette stared at him in total shock.

"Why, just why?" Marinette asked as she felt a migraine forming as she listened.

"Alya said something making up for betraying you and how we were treating you, and I think she has a little mad for what she published on the Ladyblog about Lila to tell the truth." Nino said as Marinette looked at him before dropping her head to the table and started to mutter about Alya's pride and stupidity.

"Point, Madam Tsurugi! Fencers leave the strip and let the next pair begin!" Adrien heard as he blinked before he stepped back and bowed before walking towards one of the rooms walls and drank from his water bottle. As Adrien sat against the wall he never noticed Mr. D'Argencourt coming towards him until he cleared his throat.

"Mr. Agreste. Do take better care when you have your next match, you are one of our better fencers and we will need you in top form this weekend!" Mr. D'Argencourt barked as Adrien looked at him and nodded. "If you aren't feeling at your best I need to know so I can change the order of our matches before the meet."

Adrien looked at the look in Mr. D'Argencourt eyes and shook his head. "I just need a little time Mr. D'Argencourt, just a little time to sort out my head in order."

Mr. D'Argencourt looked down at him for a few seconds before nodding his head. "Very well, I will believe you for now. However if I see a performance like that again I will have no choice but to take actions myself."

Adrien nodded as his teacher walked off, before sighing as he watched the next match while his mind was going over every time he had been around Lila and Marinette at the same time and try as he might he couldn't see anything that he hadn't then._ She threatened Marinette because she called her out on her lies, god why can't I have seen it coming! This is why I need more interaction with people dad, if I can't see this then I so need to learn how. 'We know the truth, and that's all that matters', that is the most stupid and mindless thing I ever said, I am so sorry Marinette!_ Adrien thought as he held his head in his hands. He never even noticed Kagami walk towards him until he felt a towel dropped onto his head and looked up to see her looking down at him with concern. "What's wrong Kagami?"

"You tell me. You didn't pay attention to our match you just moved on automatic, what's wrong?" She asked as she sat down next to Adiren who only sighed.

"Come on Kagami, maybe I'm just having a bad day?" Adrien asked playfully only for Kagami to look at him with a flat stare.

"Considering the last time you had a 'bad day' you had a photo shoot right after practice, your bodyguard had to practically carry you out after a few matches without changing and he's over there waiting for you, no I don't buy that." She said flatly as Adrien sighed and looked away._ Maybe she can give me some advice about this; she's said she's been in public school all her life, maybe she's dealt with something like this._ Adrien thought as he looked at Kagami as she sat down next to him.

"Have you ever dealt with liars, as in people who make up stories about themselves that you know are lies, know beyond a doubt, and these same people threaten others?" Adrien asked as Kagami looked at him and sighed._ He has such low experience with people. This is why mom always fought with grandfather before we moved to not have me homeschooled. And I guess I should be blunt, he's very naïve about how wrong others can be, must be from growing up in the modeling scene._ She thought as she looked at him as he waited for her reply.

"I'm going to be blunt here, very blunt. Do you think you can handle it?" Kagami asked as she mentally went over what could have caused him to ask this, and nothing about it was good.

Adrien looked conflicted, remembering how shocked he had felt when Chloe had told him what Lila had said to Marinette, how his anger almost made him go punch Lila in her face. _Kagami's only said that to me once when she told me something that she thought I needed to know, of course I already knew it but this time I have to know. _Adrein thought as he looked at her."I hope I can handle it, but I really need an honest answer on this."

"Yes I have and I've heard about people like that a few times over the years. I've heard about maybe two like that, one who tried to drive people to suicide for pleasure who failed, and one who _succeeded_." Kagami said bluntly as Adrien stared at her shocked as he paled; the only thing going through his head was the possibility _Marinette _being driven to suicide. He stared into space and barely reacted until Kagami shook him and he looked at her concerned face.

"Adrien, hey hey look at me, look at me, at me!" Kagami said as she shook him once more and saw color return to his face._ That reaction, this is way more than the kid needing to now about something he heard, what's happening at that school of his? _She thought as Adrien's face regained color. Nodding she pulled Adrien up and walked towards the door to her yard, she gestured towards the Gorilla to get him to stay where he was. "Come on, I'll tell the coach you need to go to the bathroom, mom said the only way she'd let him use the dojo was if I brought anyone who need it there myself."

A few minutes later Adrien walked out of the bathroom to find Kagami looking at him with a solemn look._ Of course she'll have questions about why I reacted the way I did, that's the bad thing about asking her about things like this. _He thought as he hid a grimace as he looked back at her.

"So from you reaction, someone threatened one of your friends, I'm guessing either Chloe or Marinette, because if it was Alya or Nino Alya's sister would be all over that so what's wrong?" She asked as she crossed her arms. Adrien laughed a bit before he gained a look of such shame and loathing.

"It's someone at my school, a while back I said we didn't have to expose this liar, I figured she'd just crash and burn sooner or later. Of course this was before I learned she threatened Marinette." Adrien said as Kagami ahhed and sighed.

"Why did you say not to expose her?" Kagami asked as she looked straight at Adrien's eyes, hoping to notice anything that could tell her why he made such a choice.

"Because I was nearby when another liar was exposed at a fashion show and the fallout was so bad, so many people were hurt that the press called the incident 'Blood Show'!" Adrien said as he hung his head.

"And this person?" Kagami asked as Adrien winced and looked away.

"Remember how you were after me when you Akumatized? How you wanted a rematch?" Adrien said as he scratched the back of his head. "When it was her first time she of kind created an illusion of me that she threatened to drop off the Eiffel Tower, and I didn't even have a part in her transformation beyond being there. I thought that she was just a pathological liar and would mess up a story before too long and!" Adrien finished and looked down.

Kagami blinked at this and went over everything she had learned about Akuma's and was stunned. "Wow, so you're worried that she's might kill someone if she got hit again, wait FIRST TIME!?" She exclaimed as Adrien looked away and nodded.

"Yeah, she's been Akumatized three times as two separate Akuma, and add in the fact that I once saw the end result of a model going to town on a stalker with a fire extinguisher and L…she was a few feet away from one when Marinette tried to confronter her about her lies and well…" Adrien trailed off with a sigh as Kagami just stared at him.

"You've seen a fire extinguisher used as a weapon." She said flatly as he blushed and looked away.

"Kind of as a flail really, gave this stalker a good concussion….." Adrien said as he weakly laughed.

Kagami only held her head. _Kid, why do you have so much bad luck, I mean really!_ She thought as she massaged her head. "And while you know she's a liar, you said not to confront her so she wouldn't have a break down in a city with a local brainwasher and monster maker to a possible psychopath, not knowing that she threatened one of your friends."

"Yeah, I mean I thought that if we just let her lie eventually she'd just collapse under the weight of them, I didn't even think she might use them to attack Ma…anyone!" Adrien said as he looked away with a blush on his face.

Kagami only smirked a little and chuckled. _And this was why I thought you two were already dating, and it's so fun to watch this train wreck. I have been thinking about maybe transferring since __**she**__ came to school, so maybe it could be a good thing to talk to mom about it._ Kagami thought as she started to smirk. "You know…I have been thinking about transferring, perhaps Françoise Dupont would be a better place for me to….purse an education." She said as Adrien looked at her.

"I….having someone else in the school who knows what's happening would be a lot better, but do you really want to leave your school?" Adrien asked only for Kagami to laugh bitterly suppressing him.

Kagami just shrugged once she stopped. "It's not all about you kids; let's just say that the atmosphere at my current school has become unbearable lately. Not that it was something to talk about before." She muttered as Adrien looked at her with a concerned look. She waved him off and smiled. "I told you I never hesitate, but I also have a hard time backing down but sometime the best thing to do is leave if where you are is toxic."

Adrien looked at with a shocked look "Wait, you go to the Lady Elizabeth don't you, isn't that one of the best schools in the city?"

"Let's just say that the school turns the other way when the students try peer pressure, and I don't want to talk about it okay." Kagami said bluntly as she looked at him before she turned towards the dojo.

Adrien followed after her but frowned when he thought of something. "Say Kagami shouldn't you be at your school, what happened there?"

"The teachers there think what happened at your school was either an Akuma or an arsonists doing so they shut down for the next two days." Kagami said as she looked over his shoulder at him and shrugged. _

Alya looked at Lila as she held court she sat atop a table at one of the city's parks and forced a scowl off her face. _What the heck was wrong with me, why did I ever believe what she said!_ Alya thought as Lila finished up a story to an audience of her admirers from the school.

"…so there I was, up a tree in the wildness with just a few nuts, a child hanging onto my neck and down below were wolves straining to get at us. I started to throw the nuts I found in the trees, sadly I missed but I hit a bee hive near the bottom of the tree and the bees drove the wolves away." Lila said as the students around her ooed and awed.

Alya kept a snort from coming up and kept a smile on her face as she listended to Lila's garbage. _Okay, so maybe she could have out lasted a wolf pack in the trees, but it would take a lot more then bee's to drive off a pack and an acorn to cause a bee hive to fall? I can't believe their all buying this! Well, not everyone. _Alya thought as she looked aroundsaw most of the students were on the edge of their set as they listened, most but not Alix.

"….of course we stayed there until the morning, wolves only hunt at night don't you know." Lila said as Alya fought down a scowl as she listened to this liar butcher facts about animals, if her dad was here he'd throw a fit at what she just heard. She was fingering her phone and was about to activate a timer she set up to give her a reason to get away when she saw Alix's as she sat behind Lila at another table, and it took all of her will not to react. She only looked on with her eyes, keeping a smile on her face as she watched as Alix just listened on with a neutral expression as she sat there.

"Wow, Lila! Did you get a medal or something for saving that little girl?" A girl asked as Lila tried to downplay it.

"Oh no, no. I just did what any person would do when there's a life you can save. They tried to give me a key to the city the girl was from but I just couldn't accept it." Lila said with a smile, her eyes locked on Alya and it took all she had to keep from smirking. _Perfect, the paparazzi is eating out of my hand, a few comments from me and I'll start to drive a wedge between her and baker girl! She should have taken my hand, now if the Akuma's can't deal with her I'll drive her to a grave myself!_

"Well you deserved it anyway, going out when you saw that she was gone, finding her before the wolves did and carrying her up that tree. And you have to tell Mr. Dubois about it when he gets back, he's a real nature nut." A boy said as the others and Nathaniel nodded as Alix released a silent breath and shook her head._ The doc will dissect that and destroy it in a minute at most. Why are these stories feeling so wrong, so…fake. I believed her before but they seemed to real._ Alix thought as she got up and moved away from the group. "So guys, gotta powder my noise be back in a bit."

Ayla tried to keep a smile off her face as a buzz came from her phone and looked down, forcing a frown as she 'read' what came up after she turned the timer off. "Sorry but it looks like I've got to go to. Seems the fam needs me, gotta help them you know? Nothing happens give me a text and I'll see you guys over the week."

Lila looked as Ayla moved after Alix and frowned. _What's the paparazzi wannabe doing, and why is the skater girl leaving? I know I didn't use much today but they should have stayed here until I let them go….maybe I should accelerate my plans and start dropping hints about what I want them to discover, if she tells Marinette and that reporter she sits for starts to look into it them she'll fall and this whole bullshit will be over._ Lila thought as she listened to the others as they talked about the school and their teachers, and what they might have as topics for their papers.

"You okay Lila, you spaced out for a second there." Nathaneil asked. Lila only smiled at him as the others looked at her.

"Nothing, just thinking about a paper I wrote a few years back about a flower, always thought it was a bit rushed. So what about Mr. Dubois?" She asked as they started to discuss their teachers as Lila sat back and listened, looking for anything she might use to accomplish her goal.

"Het Alix, wait up!" Alya called out as she chased after Alix as she walked out of the park towards one of the public restrooms.

Alix looked over her shoulder and frowned. _What does Alya want, I mean she's usually with Marinette or Nino….come to think of it her coming alone is kinda strange, but the since Lila came back and we changed seats…..._ Alix thought's died as she looked at Alya as she caught up to her.

"Thanks, so if you got a minute mind if I walk and…." Alya trailed off as she saw Alix begin to scowl at her.

"Why did we send Marinette to the back, away from Addrien? You know the guy we've been trying to set her up with." Alix ground out as she looked Alya right in the eye. Alya sighed and looked at Alix with a resolute look on her face.

"First, do you believe everything that's coming out of Lila's mouth?" Alya began before someone ran through them and pushed them to the ground. Alya shook her head and saw a drop of water fall to the ground as the girl ran into the park.

"What the hell….Hey! Watch where you're running jerk! Honestly…" Alix began until she heard Alya.

"She was crying, that girl was crying." Alya said as Alix went still and looked after her, a spark of worry forming as she realized how many days it had been without an Akuma.

By the park entrance a table was set up with a bonsai tree and a girl with pale skin and long brown hair in a ponytail and blue eyes wearing a black shirt and a jade skirt with two black boots on her feet, a green bandana around her neck. She smiled as she looked down at a clipboard with a grin. "Perfect, just a few more names Belinda and you'll meet the requirements the mayor's office said they'd need to even think about this!"

Belinda looked around and smiled, so happy that she could actually pull this off. _I never thought I would actually be able do this, but I'm almost done! Once I give this to city hall I'll be able to actually step back and talk to the school about it, and if I phase it right it the mayor might take over and setup the rest of it. Of course I don't know what events he might set up but just a few more names and I can say I did this!_ She thought until she heard light laughter and turned and smiled when she saw three girls her age in blue collared uniforms consisting of a skirt and a long sleeve jacket over a white shirt. "Pardon me but will you sign a petition to plant more trees in the public parks?"

The one on the right had black hair in a high ponytail and her red eyes started to laugh as she looked down at the petition and started to laugh. "More trees, really? What's Paris coming to when this is what a young girl does with her time."

Belinda frowned as she looked at the girls, something about the grins on their faces causing her to grow concerned.

The one in the middle was Asian with brunet hair that went to the middle of her back and blue eyes and she looked at Belinda with a look of sheer superiority on her face as she laughed with the back of her right hand covering her mouth. "Just what Paris needs really, another girl who doesn't know what's important in life and does what she shouldn't."

"You said it Georgette! I can't believe Paris is going into such a terrible state recently." The girl on the left had red hair in a bun and black eyes giggled as she looked at Belinda with pity. Belinda looked at the girls and started to look at them with confusion, not understanding just what they were talking about.

"You're right Azar, really. But something like this, really just what is wrong with everyone else?" The one on the left said with a laugh as she looked at Belinda with a look of pity. "We should take a bit of time and teach her what really matters."

Belinda looked at her and slowly started to feel cold as she saw the looks they gained as they looked at her. _What the hell are they talking about, what would they do?_

"Your so right Miria, we should." Georgette said before she and Miria grabbed her and held her in place.

"Hey, let me go!" Belinda cried as she tried to struggle free as they looked at her and grinned darkly.

"Don't worry, we'll let you go once the lesson is done." Azar said as she walked lazily towards the table and picked up the petition and looked at Belinda, who went still as she looked at her. Azar grinned as she took out a lighter and lit the petition on fire.

"NO!" Belinda said as she broke free to their laughter and lunged for the petition as it burned, franticly looking about, trying to find anything to put it out. She turned when she heard Georgette move and saw her grab her bonsai tree. "Put that down!"

"Is this tacky thing the source of your personality?" Miria asked as she looked at the tree as she and Azar grabbed Belinda as Georgette held it in her hands. Belinda struggled to break free and looked at Georgette as she smirked evilly before breaking it in two and threw it to the ground. "Come on girls, we have a saloon day that we deserve after teaching one of the unlucky a proper life leason."

Belinda stared at her tree as the girls started to laughed and let her go and she dropped to the ground. They threw her table to the ground and walked off laughing and she sat there as she picked the tree, tears coming to her eyes as she saw it was bent. She held it close to her as tears went down her face as she ran into the park, trying to find an out of the way place to melt down. _How dare that bitch do that!_ _They had no right to damage my tree or to and destroy my petition!_ She thought as she ran, not noticing she pushed Alya and Alix to the ground, Alya saw the tears as she passed but she didn't stop. She ran through the park until finally she found a willow tree by a small pond and sat down against the lone tree, sobbing as she put her head down.

"What was the matter with those bitches, all I wanted was to plant a few trees, add some plant life to Paris! They had no right to do that, was my petition really so bad?" She said as she tried and failed to stop crying. As she sat with her head down she never noticed a black butterfly fly towards her until it was absorbed into her bandana and a red butterfly-shaped light mask formed around her eyes as they went wide.

"Hello Dryad, I am Hawkmoth! I have heard your sorrow and you're right, who are they to deny the healing of the earth? Get me the Miraculous of Ladybug and Chat Noir and I will give you the ability to grow plants anywhere you want to in Paris." A voice came from the light mask as Belinda smirked.

"Thank you Hawkmoth, I will make Paris green!" She said as a black glow moved from her bandana to cover her body.

Juleka lay down as she looked around her room and sighed as her brother strummed his guitar as he watched her. "So you were attacked by giant spiders and you had to summon to save your friends sis?" Luka asked as he strummed his instrument as he looked at her._ Come on sis I know you're holding something back, tell me._ He thought as Juleka looked away from him.

"Something _created_ things them and they captured a lot of people before the heroes stopped whoever it was, I don't care what they say that wasn't the result of an Akuma! And I don't know what you want me to say bro." Juleka said as she tried not to give anything away.

Luka only strummed his gutter and looked at her with a deadpan look. "Then does your song sound like you're not telling me everything little sister?" Juleka looked away from him and sighed._ He's going to react just like I know he will but I have to tell him, if only because I'm going to have to bring it up when the others get here. _Juleka thought as she gathered her courage.

"There's someone new at school, and for the last two weeks she's been using something like **she **did." Juleka said as Luka stopped playing his guitar and slowly moved his head up and stared at her with hard eyes. "She's not active, I think she just got it from someone else and she's been using it to just….make people believe these stupid lies, like how a thrown napkin almost cut someone's eyes, even when their wearing glasses."

Luka only looked at his sister and started to mutter under his breath as he made plans to be around her school more often. "She's not targeting anyone is she…." Luka asked causing Juleka to look away with a wince as she looked down.

"Marinette, she tried to confront her about her lies and Lila's not doing much, but I think she's either trying to get her expelled or made the school outcast, and she's been doing it for the last two weeks." Juleka said as tears fell from her eyes, remembering how her fear had made her stay silent and let Marinette deal with it on her own. _If dad was still here, he'd be so disappointed in me but I can't deal with someone like her again, it took me this long just to make sure she wasn't a user._

"You were scared weren't you sis? This has been on you for two weeks and I never noticed….I'm sorry but what you did was still _wrong_." Luka said as Juleka looked down at the floor of their room.

"I know, but I was so scared." Juleka said as she hugged herself as memories of what that bitch had put her through going through her head. Luka reached over and squeezed her shoulder and smiled at her.

"You're stronger then that sis, you really are. But you'll have to talk to Marinette sooner or later." Luka said as Juleka nodded and sighed.

"I'll place an order for delivery and ask to have Marinette do it, could you just make sure no one in watching us?" Juleka asked causing Luka to look at her with a raised eyebrow before a commotion on the deck caused them to lookup.

"Ahoy down there! Boarders coming down to speak you!" There mother's voice caused the siblings to look at each other.

"Sure and we'll talk more about this later sis." Luka said before Ivan, Mylee and Rose walked into the room and Luka motioned for them to sit down before he started to play his guitar.

Luka continued to play his guitar for a few moments, taking in the music of the others. Ivan was confusion, Luka could feel that Ivan knew he was different now and that scared him. Mylene's sound brought to mind she was scared for someone, and the looks she sent Ivan clued him in to who, but Rose was wonder and her own hidden feelings that caused him to smile as he heard Julekea's song change its pitch when Rose walked in.

"Hey Luka, how you been man? Listen I know we've got practice later on but we have to talk with your sister alone man, it's about what happened yesterday and…." Ivan began before stopping at the smile on Luka's face.

"You mean we've **ALL **have to talk about how my sisters summoned a Kaiju to save you all yesterday?" Luka interrupted and smiled at the faces of his band mates and Mylene. "Yeah I know about it, you could say it's a family tradition really, to learn to summon and cast. And Ivan we'll need to get your own abilities under control, it might be dangerous if we don't."

Ivan stared at Luka before he looked at his hands and flexed them, an unreadable expression on his face as Mylene put a hand on his arm as he muttered to himself. "I knew I felt something different when I woke up this morning, I just knew it, but how could it be dangerous, what is this?"

"You've taken a step into the realm of mana users my friend, something that will let you live a more….._interesting_ life." Luka said as he held his guitar and looked at him. "But it is also a life with…dangers not unlike Hawkmoth."

Ivan looked at Juleka who nodded with a pained look on her face. "What kind of dangers?"

Juleka looked at her brother and he nodded at her to continue. "There are people out there, an Order of summoners who believe that they alone can decide who can use mana." Juleka said as the others looked at her as she scowled. "And while I can think of a few people who shouldn't even know it's exists, they go after anyone who they discover knows about it or the creatures and whip their minds."

"But what are these Creatures, I mean Juleka threw something and this blue humanoid appeared and fought the spiders, just where did they come from?" Rose asked as she looked Juleka. _This has to do with why you were so nervous around me after I was Akumatized, I just know it! _ Rose thought as Luka tookover.

"Let me tell you how dad told us." Luka said as he started to strum his guitar as his hands started to glow white. As he played a bit of music that made them think of peace and safety shapes started to form in the air, eventual they were the outline of five humanoids made of black, blue, red, green and gold light, each with traits that showed they weren't human, the red and black had tails and the blue had webbed hands. "In the beginning before recorded history people learned to wield a power with five variations; they called it the breath of life itself, mana. And then the Kaiju appeared, creatures able to wield mana, and as they aged they grew stronger." Luka said as create like shapes appeared and multiplied into different shapes and started to fight others of their colors and other. "Unfortunately, there were a lot of beings back then who had hard heads and battles were common place, and alliances were born and died as the years passed."

Rose held her hands to her mouth as Ivan held Mylène as she looked at the figures in the air with wonder in her eyes. Juleka looked at her brother and motioned towards the painting discretely on the wall and he shook his head, something's were just for family or others who shared the same burden, Luka smiling slightly when his sister nodded back.

"After maybe one or two thousand years, they started to come together, how and why we don't remember, but grandpa thought it might have been warlords gathering armies and clashing with each other." Juleka said as she took over. "After all who used the same kind of mana gathered together it there was peace for a time, until there was total war. Humans and Kaiju fought tooth and claw, total chaos with the lines of battle moving at random. Until finally, five Shamans capture the Monarchs, the most powerful of the five 'kingdoms' of creatures and drew mana from them to cast a spell that created a separate world and banished the Kaiju from the earth 'side' of the Veil they made, and the Shamans and their students became a self-appointed police for Mana users."

"The war ended or was out of human lands, wonderful right? But it wasn't just the Creatures; everything that had mana in it that wasn't human was banished, from the wild animals to plants. And the plants could do wonders, heal and strengthened the body so much that legends and lore of healing plants were really samples that were secreted away in special containers or brought over by Creatures." Luka said as he stopped playing and the shapes dissipated as the others looked at them.

"Then the Shamans are the founders of the order that polices mana users?" Mylene asked as they tried to make sense of what they were being told.

"Yes and the problem is that there are other ways to awaken Mana like Ivan found out yesterday. And those scum never let people just have Mana, I don't even know if they can even comprehend that Creatures and Mana are separate things." Juleka said as she looked at them before containing bitterly. "But their right, some people shouldn't have Mana, some people never should have experimented with it."

Ivan looked at his hands and then up at them, a little taken aback at the bit in Juleka's tone, Rose looked at her with a look of shock that morphed to sorrow at the bitter looks the siblings were sporting.

"Ever wonder what happened to our dad?" Luka said as Juleka looked down and clenched her hands. "To make a terrible story short, a bitch used a perfume she made to make my sister drink a chemical to brainwasher her. While my dad and I came to rescue Juleka, dad got hurt bad….a few months later…."

Rose cried a little as Ivan growled as Mylène gasped and covered her mouth. Rose looked at Juleka before going still.

"Wait, for a while last year when you came into our class you looked at me like you were scared of me…did you think I was like whoever tried to do what they did?" Rose asked as Juleka looked pained for a few seconds.

Juleka shook her head and looked at Rose with a loving look in her eyes. "No, you didn't have active mana. And you're the complete opposite of her, I knew that after a few days….but fear isn't logical."

"So then you need active mana to make it then?" Mylène asked as Luka nodded.

"You need it to make it, but you don't need it to have it work for you like your new classmate." Luka said as the others looked at each other as the Couffaine siblings looked at each, Luka giving Juleka a lopsided grin as he recognized what they were seeing.

Juleka looked around at the others before sighing. "We're talking about Lila, she's been lying about partially everything she said, and I think she's been going after Marinette!"

Ivan stared at Juleka and started to flex his hands as Mylène paled while Rose started to growl as they went over what they had seen and started to curse themselves for not realizing what they had seen.

"She's been trying to hurt Marinette?" Ivan growled as he looked at the siblings, hoping that they were wrong and that he hadn't let down one of his oldest friends.

Suddenly heard the sound of the engine as the room lurched caused them all to look towards the ceiling as Rose grabbed Juleka's arm and as Ivan moved between the door and Mylene as they felt the boat start to move. "All crew hold on, we've got another Akuma!" They heard the sibling's mother call out as the ship moved.

The teens all they exchanged looks before Juleka ran out of the room, the others following, only Luka staying where he sat, his mind racing. _So there's ether a mad Alcamist running around or there was a portal to the Kaiju Realm down there….that would explain the pulse I felt last night. Maybe I should leave him alone or go easy on him next time….no he's still a bastard and I really want to take him down. But if is what going to happen now in Paris then I might need a little bit of help and it would be good to have him watching my back again._ Luka thought as he looked a picture on the wall. He got up and walked towards, he moved the picture frame aside and revealed a sea serpent painted on the wall hidden by the frame and he put his hand on the serpent and after a few seconds his hands started to glow white and the painted serpent of the wall split in two and opened inwards to reveal a small safe which he opened, revealing a small blue box that he looked at with concern.

"Depths, I think you might have to finally wake up bro." Luka said as he looked at the box he had put away when his father had died and removed a band with a blue hexagon like crystal on it. _I should have woken him up the time after mom got hit but I just couldn't, I'm not worthy for this power but damn it I might not have a choice anymore!_ He thought as he looked at the box, his hand moving towards it before he stopped before he hardened his eyes and opened the box, causing a ball of light to form above it.

"Hi Luka, so I guess we're needed again?" Luka only smiled at the speaker.

Ayla ran with Alix away from Lila and her court as they looked about for the girl who had run by them, a bit of fear and anxiety as they looked about for her.

"You don't think she'll?" Alix asked as she looked at Ayla who had her phone out and was ready to send a live stream out to her blog and activate the Akuma alarm at a moment's notice.

"She was crying, I mean maybe Hawkmoth didn't send an Akuma but right now I'm not so sure." Alya said as she looked around with a frown as she tried to find her target. _Okay we can still find her and help her calm down, maybe Hawkmoth is busy, maybe he hasn't found her however he does it._ Alya thought before a sudden rumble caused them both to turn and see a tree rise five stories into the air, a few moments later she saw small green spheres hit the ground around and from them trees started to shoot up into the sky three stories high. "Okay so this one is plant based, that's new."

"Yeah, so what do think the name is, Gardner, Lady Green or how about…." Alix said as trees started to shoot from until they were in a forest.

"I am Dryad, protector of the plants. All who stand before me and master Hawkmoth shale know pain and terror." An echoing voice said from the trees. Alix and Alya looked upwards and saw a girl with pale green skin sitting on a branch. She was wearing a green bodysuit at hugged her body under a jade dress with a green transparent veil covering the top of the head leaving only her jade green lips bare. From behind her a large tree limb moved to raised itself above her and the end looking at them opened to reveal a serpent like face with two jade wood fangs and two jade colored seeds as eyes, the open wood forming a cobra like hood. Dryad gestured to the snake tree and her grinned darkly down at them. "This is Serpent Tree, my protector. I know you from before I was enlightened; you're the Ladyblogger aren't you? Will you be a dear and tell all of Paris who is returning this city of metal to one of plants?" Dryad asked as Serpent Tree moved towards them slowly.

"RUNNN!" Alix screamed as she turned and pulled Alya after as she beat feet away from the Akuma. Alya activated her phone to capture a screenshot of Dryad as she ran, hoping to get Serpent Tree as well so that the heroes would be warned about it.

"Let them go my dear, we have to get the heroes here to get the Miracoulus for our fellow gardener Hawkmoth after all." Dryad said as she looked at the runners and laughed as she turned and petted Serpent Tree and looked towards the tree that she had been setting against. _Oh I don't know why people are so afraid of become like this; it seems to me that everything that held me back just melted away. All that is left is purpose and the power to do it! _She thought as she looked about her new forest and smiled. Once she had awoken as who she was she had felt something and put her hands on her bonsai and turned it into Serpent Tree. After that she had put her hands on the willow tree and caused it to shoot to the sky, and then she had felt something in her that caused her to _twist_ something within the tree just so and then her seeds had appeared. She looked around and felt the same thing about a few other trees and sent a command to Serpent Tree to carry her to another one of them and touch it. As something grew from the tree's limbs she started to laugh. "So my garden will have protectors after all, do hide my dears, let's try and capture them when they come here."

Looking at the capture of Dryad and Serpent Tree she activated an AP she used to make video's on the go and started to record herself. "Folks, this is the Ladyblogger calling out to Paris, we've got another one!" Alya said as she ran, knowing that her phone would pick her up. "We're somewhere in the Tuileries Garden so would somebody at city hall sound the alarm? I'd get off the streets cause the trees are coming!"

Alix scoffed as they ran, trees exploding from the ground behind them. _Come on Alya, with how tall that tree became I'm sure people in the suburbs saw it! I just hope she doesn't have anything else like that snake thing, how did that come from?_ Alix thought as they reached the others and she ran by them, screaming as she moved. "AKUMA!"

Lila looked at the spheres hit the ground around them and from them trees exploding upwards and started to run, the others following behind her._ Of course an Akuma would hit the park I'm in. Hawkmoth you've got a one track mind and well I hope that this isn't the end of our partnership, I haven't used you enough yet!_ Lila thought as she ran.

Marinette and Nino ran along the sidewalk as they tried to make it to the park, hoping they would find Alya before Lila did something to her. "Ohhhhh. When I get my hands around Lila's lying neck if she did anything to hurt Alya!" Marinette said as they ran.

"Get in line, while I'm handling her you can yell at Alya for doing this!" Nino bit out as he ran. _I knew something was up with her but I let Alya talk me into not making a bigger deal about it and having me tell Marinette what she was doing. I am so telling her sister about this! _ He thought as he they turned a corner only to stop. Ahead of them were the Gardens and within it was a towering tree at least six stories tall. "Great another Akuma."

"There they are." Marinette said as she pointed at Alya, Alix Lila and the others running out of the park and before Nino could run to his girlfriend he felt Marinette grab his shoulder. "Get Alya and get to cover, I'll hide elsewhere so if we're lucky then Lila still doesn't know anything about what Alya's doing."

"Got it dudette, stay alive until the heroes can save the day again." Nino said as he ran towards Alya. _I really hope Alya isn't needed this time, or me. I don't know how we'd be able to get away from Lila and I so don't want her to know who we are._ Nino thought as he ran towards Alya. "ALYA!"

Alya and the others looked up as they heard him and Alya smiled at him. Lila looked on with a confused expression and looked him over. _I thought rapper boy was going to go shopping for his family, must have finished before coming here and the Akuma caused him to come and make sure we're okay._ She thought as she looked at him as he grabbed Alya's arm and pulled her away from the park.

"Come on Alya, we've got to go!" Nino said as he

"Nino what are you doing here, weren't you shopping?!" Alya exclaimed as he pulled her away from Lila and the others as the teens scattered all around, Lila running with Alix and Nathaniel running towards a building as Nino pulled her towards a subway entrance.

"Yeah, I finished and _Ma_ said I could go spend some time with you, she even drove me a few blocks from here." Nino said as they ran down the stairs into the subway station and breathed a sigh of relief as he saw they were underground, right before roots burst out of the wall and started to block the stairs. "Okay, not my best idea ever."

Marinette slipped down an alley and found an out of the way place to transform and Tikki rose to hover before her. "This is different Tikki, he's never had such a large effect for an Akuma." Marinette thought as she looked up and saw sphere's shooting through the air.

"Yeah, he hasn't." Tikki said as she looked at the sky and felt a strange sense of deji view, the buildings replacing themselves with strange sleek gold metal buildings before the view returned to normal. Tikki floated there, dead to the world for a few seconds not hearing Marinette as she tried to get her attention. _What was that, I knew those buildings….what in the world was that?_ Tikki thought as she tried to figure out what she had _seen_.

"…Tikki? Are you okay?" Marinette asked bring Tikki back to the now. Smiling at Marinette she nodded her head.

"Yeah I'm fine but we have to stop this, people could get hurt!" Tikki said as she put her flash out of her mind.

"Let's do it Tikki Spots on!" Marinette said as she transformed into Ladybug before jumping to the roof tops and she saw Alya and Nino run down the subway stairs before a sphere hit and a tree's roots covered the entrance.

_Well that's one thing that will make the school a bit easier. And even if she's not in our class she'll still be in our grade so having someone else to watch our backs is a good thing. _Adrien thought as he sat in his limo as the Gorilla drove through Paris. He sighed as he wondered what the next few days would be like without school and as he glazed out the window, a buzzing from his phone caused him to jolt in place before he went still when he saw something crash into the sidewalk before a tree suddenly rose from the impact crater. He could look out the limo as trees started to raise from the streets, pushing cars away as they rose to the sky as falling spheres hit the ground. "Akuma, its gotta be." He muttered as he slipped out of the car and dashed to a side street with the Gorilla following, both of them thinking it would be better to get out of the road. He looked to the sky and not seeing a sphere falling towards them slipped into an alley a moment before impact and a tree grew and blocked the Gorilla from following him. Adrien sighed before he heard the Gorilla pounding on the tree as it grew.

"Big guy, find a place to ride this out, I'll do the same just go!" He called out and heard the pounding stop and he smiled. _Sorry, but this is a probably an Akuma so I'm needed. I just hope that this isn't _

"He's really dedicated to his profession kit." Plagg said as he hovered our of Adrien's pocket as Adrien looked at him before he shook his head and smiled, once more Plagg could be counted on to keep his mind off their job.

"Plagg, really do you have to give everyone who lives in my house such trouble?" Adrien asked as Plagg scoffed as he turned to look at Adrien.

"He's the only one that I actually like besides you in that ice cold palace. But let's transform and find where the rain of trees is coming from." Plagg said as he looked at the sky and saw sphere's shoot through the sky.

"Right, Plagg Claws out!" Adrien said as Plagg went into his Miraculous, transforming him into Chat Noir. _Best to get up and see where this is coming from right Plagg? __**Yeah kid, get up and let's see what's up.**_ Plagg sent to Adrien as he jumped to the roof tops and looked followed the sphere's in the air backwards and saw a giant tree in the distance with raised branches that were the source of the spheres. As he looked at the tree he sighed and shook his head. " I really hope Queenie and My lady can get there soon, this needs all hands on deck, think we'll need some help Plagg?" Adrien mused before he ran over the roof tops towards the Garden his eyes on the lookout for any sphere that might hit the buildings

Chloe looked around and cursed. _Sabrina I really hope that you're okay girl, but it's time for me to make up for my mask again._ Chloe thought as she looked around the roof top of the hotel and scowled. At least she was alone. As she looked at the spheres as they shot through the air she felt scared. Pollen came out of her purse and looking at the spheres as they shoot through the sky, she saw them land around Paris and trees shoot to the sky and frowned. "What the hell is his plan, force us into an ambush to stop this but how could he have done this, is he gaining power?

"Chloe I think this is someone who could tap into their Mana; it's the only way this makes any sense." Pollen said as she hovered and looked at the trees, a weird feeling as she looked at the spheres shoot through the air.

"Lets do this Pollen, Buzz On!" Within moments Chloe had transformed into Queen Bee and she jumped off the hotel and pulled out her fan and opened a section of its handle and she activated her communicator. "Queen Bee to everyone, can you hear me?"

"Chat here Queenie, coming at you from the east, where are you?"

"Ladybug here, I'm at the south overlooking the street, I just saw a tree's roots cover the subway entrance near it after that girl with that blog and a boy went down them." Ladybug's voice said causing Queen Bee to stumble before jumping to the next building. _Alya and Nino are trapped!? Great, just great….wait if Alya was pulled away from this then she must have had a picture of the Akuma for her blog, she might know something._

"I'm at the east, lets meet up at the tree by the subway and see if we can talk to the blogger. If she knows anything that would make this easier then lest find out so we can finish this and Ladybug can clean out the deadwood!" She said as she closed her fan and moved faster towards

Galen looked around at the trees and falling spheres and grinned. _Grandfather should be at City hall getting me the go ahead to go out and have some fun. Now according to what I found the artifacts are called Miraculous and there are animal based ones beside the insect so mine is the Miraculous of the bat and it's been in my family for generations, and given that the Order was destroyed and only a novice got away I can talk that it was something the Order was never able to claim. _ He thought as he walked upwards towards the roof.

"Of course once I can get their trust, and find out why Hawkmoth wants their artifacts I'll just burn that bridge once I get there." He muttered as he walked through his building until he reached the roof top and walked out, looking about Paris with a bored look. From every direction trees were at least four stories tall and he just chuckled.

"Ohhh I just know he would love to know how she's growing them so fast." He mused as he looked about. _ Still in the grand scheme of things this isn't so bad, when it's our time to rise we might want to figure out how whoever is doing this, could be a good way to make them stay where we want them to._ He thought as he looked about and turned towards the Gardens to the _south_ of him.

"Time to join the idiots, I mean Heroes I suppose, DREAD SET!" He bellowed as he drew his knife and within moments he was wearing his new armor. As he jumped over the buildings towards the park he remembered his power and stopped at the edge of the forest that the Gardens had become. "Still need to have a name for myself, can't have a knight in it, can't let the others know about me so I have wings soooo….. I'm someone in over their head, Moon Wing, that'll do." The newly named Moon Wing said as he jumped into the park.

Ladybug looked around as she waited for Queen Bee and Chat Noir could get to the subway and looked into the park, for a few minutes she thought she had heard something moving in there and she had been tempted to go find the source. When the giggles intensified Ladybug moved towards the Gardens when suddenly.

"There you are M'lady!" Chat Noir's voice came from above her causing her to smile.

"Hope you weren't waiting long Ladybug!" Queen Bee called out from the right as she landed to Ladybug's right as Chat landed on her left.

"Glad you two made it, we have a problem this time don't we." Ladybug said as she looked at the Gardens. "For the last few minutes the spheres, the seeds I think, they've been slowing down. If I'm right then whatever's behind this is waiting to charge up a farther target or making more of them."

"Yeah, I saw that on the way in. What about the Ladyblogger, and what the hell is the source of that giggling?" Queen Bee asked as she drew her fan and looked into the Gardens as another burst of giggling came from it.

"It started after I stopped here, I think it might be part of the Akuma's plan to deal with us

"We try and see if their okay, then we deal with the park." Ladybug said nodding at Chat Noir. He nodded back and raised his baton and extended it, taking a spear stance._ Plagg, is there anything that I can do to increase the piercing power?_ Chat sent to Plagg as he prepared to strike. _**Yeah, the Wither Strike; it cause plants to die in a circle the if channeled through your baton, on livening flesh it just drains their strength. Just do this….**_Plagg sent back causing Chat to smirk as he smirked.

"I got this girls, Wither Strike!" He called out, causing black lightning to surround his baton before he stabbed the root and created a small hole that went through the roots.

"Ladybug, Chat Noir, Queen Bee, are you there?! Listen the Akuma has a minion like Guitar Villain! Some kind of plant snake thing!" Alya said from behind the roots as the hole let light into the staircase.

"Hey kid, your name's Alya right?! Are you two okay down there?" Chat called out as he tried to remember if he had ever been 'introduced' to her and Nino as Chat.

"We're fine Chat Dude, handle the Akuma!" Nino called out as the roots started to glow green and the hole closed as the roots grew over the hole and the root so within seconds the hole Chat had created was gone, a darker root covering the previses root.

Queen Bee looked up at the tree and saw that the leaves had changed colors, they were a tad lighter and she looked down at the darker root and scowled. _Pollen, if the Akuma has active mana or skills that deal with it, could they have done this?_ She thought as she looked about, the same 'scent' that followed Lila around was coming from the trees, her transformation seemed to translate into a weird feeling for some reason._**Yes, I remember once fighting against a nature Mana user who tried to turn everything into plant hybrids, his lair had plants he modified with mana and this is a lot like that.**_Pollen sent causing Queen Bee to wince and clear her throat. "I think this is something beyond Hawkmoth guys. My _trainer_ told me about an old foe who was like this once before, sorry it took me so long to remember."

Ladybug looked up at the tree with Chat Noir and shared a look with each other before Chat cursed. "I think he took our Akuma minion that survived explanation as an insult ladies."

"Or he's trying to see if it's possible. But Chat what you did, are you on timer?" Ladybug asked as she looked at the park before looking at him. Chat Noir grinned and shook his head.

"We're all getting stronger as our adventure underground showed; as long as I don't activate my 'kill shot' I'm good if I don't activate too many abilities at once." Chat said with a grin as he looked at the girls. "I'm sure you've got a few new powers just waiting to bust out right?"

"Yeah, but back to the Akuma; I think it's a PR move on his part. A smear campaign; he must be trying to get Paris to not trust; us if we can't repair this at the end?" Queen Bee mused as Chat Looked at the tree. _What can we do Pollen?_ She sent and felt Pollen buzz with excitement. _**The lower tear power I think will be perfect for this one is Sting Slice, it takes the mana of what you hit and uses it to increase your next attack no matter who you hit. My chosen loved it when they used it, they even developed a few dances to in its honor.**_ Pollen sent as Queen Bee grinned.

"No time like the present to handle things, let's do it." Ladybug said as she ran into towards the park, Queen Bee and Chat Noir at her side, Chat spinning his baton as he ran, his thoughts not on the battle but his trapped friend. _Hang on Nino, we'll get you and Ayla out of there!_ He thought as they ran into the forest the Gardens had become.

Back in the subway Nino shared a look at Alya, a worried look on his face as he went over what he had overheard from the other side of the roots. As the hole had been covered they hadn't been able to be heard but they could hear the heroes.

"They lied about what the spiders were….then they weren't from Hawkmoth?" Alya said with a stunned look on her face. _But if it wasn't an Akuma, what created those spider things that attacked us…then what created them? I mean they defeated them and…Ladybug never did the cure…_Alya thought as she went still as she realized what had happened.

"That's not great babe but it's not too bad. They gotta keep secrets to protect the city so that's just one more…." Nino began before Alya interrupted him.

"Ladybug never used her cure yesterday." Alya says in a stunned tone, cursing herself for not having realized it.

"What are you…." Nino asked only to stop talking when he saw her face.

"Miraculous Cure, the ladybug swarm that heals and repairs after the Akuma attacks! She never used it, they did something else to get the people down from the webs!" Alya said as she looked at the darkness of the tunnels and started to imagine more of the spiders attacking them. Nino saw the look of terror in her eyes and misunderstood the why.

"So they didn't use the cure, so maybe they didn't need it. People got home safe and sound, so that wasn't a problem. Maybe you're just looking for nothing…" Nino said before trailing off at the look on Alya's face.

"That's not the problem Nino!" Alya said as she looked about. "If it wasn't an Akuma behind those spiders then there might be more of them….."

Nino went still and looked into the subway station as a root burst out of the wall and the lights went out for a few seconds before coming back on.

"And where they might be and if they attack anyone else." Nino finished for her and looked at her with a frown on his face. "This totally bites. This makes what Mari told me about Lila so not as important."

Alya looked around at the station before going still and turning to look at her boyfriend as what he said registered with her. "What did Mari say about Lie-la Nino?" Alya asked as Nino went still and turned to look at her.

"She kinda said that she thinks Lila has something like what Rose's Akuma used but to make people believe her." Nino said as Alya looked shocked and her mouth dropped open. "Yeah really out there, but you know life in Paris"

"Yeah…."Alya trailed off and started to think. _If Lila's using a perfume to help make her stories believable, and the spiders could they be connected. Not from the same source, but the same 'thing' could be behind both? I mean they say its magic that transforms people into Akuma but what is the 'rules' behind it._ Alya thought as she stared into the subway tunnel.

"Still all we can do now is stay here and wait for help to come right? Just like our first date come to think of it." Nino said as he bumped Alya's shoulder causing her to snicker a bit.

She looked at Nino as he reached for his own phone and took hold of it, smiling as she gazed at him. _Thanks Nino, but I can't let this go. I focused on the heroes and not the power behind them, well no more, this time I'm gona try and find out the truth._ Alya thought as the lights flickered again.

Ladybug led the charge into the trees as for the last few minutes the giggles had grown louder after they had passed the fourth row of trees and they could see strange shapes moving behind the bushes and trees, staying at the edge of sight but never moving closer.

"They have to be waiting for something if they're connected to the Akuma!" Chat cried as they ran. "We have to find a place to make a stand!"

"I thought she said that this thing only had a single minion, what are the rest of these things?! What are they anyway?!" Queen Bee called out as they ran through the trees until they reached an open space and could see a tree at least as tall and as wide as the Eiffel tower with four tree limbs raising above the main tree that moved before each shot out a dust cloud as four spheres were fired from the limbs in the four cardinal directions.

"That wasn't there when we entered the park." Chat said with a terrified tone as he looked at the tree. _How could something like that grow so fast…could she have active mana, the akuma I mean? _He thought as he looked at the tree.

"The Akuma must have modified a tree over there to turn into…that! We have to find…." Ladybug began before a voice interrupted her.

"Here I am heroes!" A voice called out from above them. Looking in the direction of the voice they saw Dryad standing on the one of the branches of one of the trees high up. Below her Serpent Tree slithered out of the forest and flicked a vine tongue as it watched the heroes. "Hello, I am Dryad, the one who make it that Paris will know the wonder of plants! And once I give Hawkmoth your Miraculous I'll be able to do this for the entire world!"

"Great another time when the Akuma made the victim a fanatic. Whose's turn is it to set them off again?" Chat asked as he readied himself for the battle to come. Ladybug and Queen Bee looked at each other before Queen Bee stepped forward and called out.

"Big talk considering there's just you and that pet of yours!" Queen Bee snarked causing Dryad to start to laugh as the giggles from before came from all around them. "That's never a good sign." She said as she opened her fan and prepared herself for what the Akuma would do.

"Why beside my dear Serpent Tree and Old Tom, I have my lovely gardeners." She said as feminine looking humanoids with bark for skin and ivy for hair appeared all around the clearing, at least twenty of them, five had bows with vines for strings and pinecones for arrows and others had swords made out of wood in place of hands.

"Meet my Nymph Dancers; perfect scarecrows to keep the pests from killing my garden. Won't you dears be good little ones and hand over what my patron wants?" Dryad asked as she moved to sit down and look at the heroes. The three of them looked at each other before Ladybug started to spin her yoyo in a circle as the heroes readied themselves as she snarled at Dryad.

"Forget it!" They cried as they looked around at the Dancers as stood there, silently.

Dryad just giggled and looked down at them with pity. "Oh well, I offered. Girls turn them into fertilizer!" She called out as fifteen of her Nymph Dancers charged at the heroes.

"Wither Strike!/ Sting Slice!/ Full Bash!" As black lightning covered Chat Noir's extended baton, yellow flames covered Queen Bee's fan as red lightning covered Ladybug yoyo. Ladybug swung her yoyo down at one of the charging Dancer's sword and broke it before Chat Noir's baton stroke one of the Dancer and it screamed as it turned to ash.

"They're not civilians, their plants!" Chat Noir cried as he dodged a strike from one of the Dancers before Queen Bee cut its neck and it kept coming but she spun around and slashed it in two down the middle. Queen Bee looked at the remains of her opponent for a few seconds and slashed out with her fan to cut another one's 'sword' in two before Ladybug's yoyo bashed its head off.

As Chat Noir stabbed at two of the Dancers and they crumbled to dust he looked up at Dryad and hid a frown as he saw her and Serpent Tree just stare at them as they battled. _What's she doing, she hasn't even sent that thing at us, it's just watching with her, any ideas Plagg?_ Chat Noir sent to Plagg as he dodged a blow from one of the other sword armed Dancers. _**Some kid, it's like I've seen this kind of combat before, oh on the right!**_ Plagg sent a second before Chat Noir dodged backwards and used his staff to push himself to the left as another of the Dancers slashed where he had been standing. He heard the twinge of vines and looked towards the side to see the arrows start to fall towards them. "Arrows incoming!" He bellowed as he spun his staff in a circle and moved to intercept the arrows as they rained down, defending Queen Bee and Ladybug who dealt with another of the Nymph Dancers each before getting into a triangle with Chat Noir, each of them using their weapons to shield the others.

"We really could use Carapace or Rena right now." Queen Bee said as she blocked a blow form one of the Dancers and spun, sliced its head off and its neck released a green fluid, the plant thing stood up and slashed down with its sword arms and Queen Bee cut the 'hands' off and it released more of the fluid. She dodged the liquid and frowned as she saw the grass it hit start to glow before growing a good foot. She spared a look towards the archers and did a double take when she only saw two of them still standing where they had been originally and saw five more of the sword Nymph Dancers waiting in the gloom of the trees. "More are coming! Their trying to surround us, we've gotta either get her or get away!"

Ladybug looked around as she tried to think of anything and gritted her teeth as more arrows started to fall around them. "Queen Bee, you and me give Chat an opening, Chat try and get closer to her, I think it's the veil!" Ladybug called out before charging at the two archers. Queen Bee sliced off the head of another of the Dancers and Chat Noir charged at Serpent Tree and Dryad and she looked down at them and giggled.

"If you want for me to match blades then I don't mind the pleasure, to bad we don't have any fukushin." She said as she put a hand on the branch and raised it up and soon she was holding a wooden sword and dropped to the forest floor and charged at Chat Noir as her blade glowed green. She and Chat Noir meet and started to exchange blows, both of them were evenly matched but she dodged each blow.

Ladybug bashed off the head of another of the Dancers and she saw Serpent Tree was…. _looking _at Chat Noir as he fought Dryad_!_ _That's it, that how she's dodging his blows, she can see through her creations… And control them we have to take her now! _Ladybug thought as she dodged a blow from another of the Dancers.

"YAAAGHH!" Queen Bee cried as she suddenly moved infront of Ladybug and cut the head of another of the Dancers attacking Ladybug. "Do it Ladybug, I can handle these things and the stray's got the victim, you've got an opening!" She said as she parried a blow from one of other Dancers.

Ladybug looked around at the battle and jumped backwards to give herself some space and nodded. _Tikki, with my mana level if I use Lucky Charm, how long will the transformation last._ Ladybug sent to Tikki. _**You've gained enough mana to last for an hour after you use your powers Marinette, but you won't be able to use Lucky Charm until I recharge.**_Tikki sent to Ladybug, causing her to smile and make her decision.

"Lucky Charm!" She cried out as she threw her yo-yo upwards and suddenly Serpent Tree charge and tackled her, pushing her away and looked towards the red ball of energy before a large red and black spotted square raised platform mat fell onto it. Dryad winced suddenly and Chat Noir hit her and five of the Dancers turned to dust before arrows suddenly were shot at him and hit, pushing him backwards until Queen Bee stopped him.

"Okay you mangy stray? And how will that let us win?" She asked as she helped him steady himself and looked at the Lucky Charm. Chat Noir went still and stared in shock._ I saw something like that at the Guardian's shop, that means!_ Chat thought as he tried to look for Ladybug and saw her shielding herself from the arrows of archers.

"Ladybug, your charm!" Chat Noir cried as he charged and sliced a Dancer that charged her in two, its body decomposing as he reached her with Queen Bee backing up to watch their backs.

"I'm good for an hour but listen. She can see through the trees and her minions and command them that way; we need help." Ladybug said as backed up. "We have to get away; she's tpo powerful with them and that thing!"

A crash was heard and they saw the platform mat fly through the air as Serpent Tree reared up and roar as Dryad got back to her feet with a scowl. "Okay, I was treating you all with the kids gloves, a bad idea given what you've done over the last two years but this time I'll hit you with my full power, at least all that I can spare."

As soon as she said this twenty Dancers appeared on the ground and ten Archers appeared on branches around the clearing. The heroes stood back to back as Dryad's minions

"What do we do?" Ladybug asked as she looked at the monsters surrounding them. "Who's the fastest, who can get to the Guardian and back with help fast enough?"

"I'm out, I'm all combat and detecting what about you Chat?" Queen Bee asked as the three moved slowly away from Dryad and her minions.

"I've got a way to stay in the shadows, I _found_ it last night. Wait what about your charm Ladybug, are you timing out?" Chat asked as he looked at the minions as the three of them moved backwards. Ladybug saw the charm glow red and looked around and saw Chat glow as well and made her decision.

"No, I have an hour. Here's the plan, Queen Bee and I'll stay here, draw them off you and do a fighting retreat to the outside of the park and recharge, Chat go to the Guardian." Ladybug said as she spun her yoyo.

"We trust you tomcat, make a good choice." Queen Bee said as she opened her fan and looked at advancing foes before charging at them, Ladybug at her side."Charge!"

Chat stayed for a second before turning and running away from the battle, never noticing someone watch that wasn't a minion.

Chat beat feet away from the garden and jumped to the top of the buildings and ran, cursing himself for running like he was. _**Kid you're the best choice, the others will hold off until we get there. We need someone who can help so follow my directions.**_ Plag sent before Chat instantly knew where he had to go as he ran over the rooftops of Paris, seeing at least one new tree here and there rising to the sky. "What set her off, what could she have been feeling to let Hawkmoth do this?" He muttered as he ran, taking care to note the trees and hoping to find a place to drop his transformation that wouldn't go back to Hawkmoth "If she can see through every tree she sent out!" He muttered as he jumped from roof to roof. _**Then she can make her mionoins from every tree, but why haven't we been attacked yet?**_ Plagg sent as Chat ran, a chill going down his spine

After a few moments he looked about and frowned, Plagg was right. The Akuma had to have been making her minions from something, the plants were an obvious answer given her powers, but maybe she had a range she could make or see.___Or keep active. So far their only in the park, good for all her talk….Wait;'fukushin' and that sword it was a bokken. She knows kendo we need Kagami. Wait…..'all that I can spare' what could be more important….the large tree and the seeds._ He thought as he reached an area without trees and dropped down into an alley near Fu's place and transformed back into Adrien, Plagg swiftly hiding in his shirt. Adrien ran to the end of the alley and swiftly made it into Fu's place without anyone noticing him.

Entering the room he saw Fu calming making some tea and looking up at the sound of his door opening he smiled at Adrien as he saw him.

"Ahhhh, Chat Noir, welcome." Fu said as Wayzz floated out of hiding as he heard who was at the door as Plagg floated up from Adrien's shirt.

"No time to talk Fu, the girls are holding off the Akuma's made help." Plagg said as Fu calmly poured a tea cup that Adrien took and sipped as Fu turned to his side and pulled up the Miracle Box and put it before Adiren.

"I had a feeling this would be needed today. You must choose carefully, once the threat is gone, you, Ladybug or Queen Bee must return the Miraculous to me." Fu said as the box opened and revealed the Miraculous to Adrien.

He looked down at the box and saw the places his and his teammates and Hawkmoth's would be, even the guardian. He put his hand above it and closed his eyes like Ladybug had told him and Queen Bee how she had chosen Rena Rogue's and Carapace's when they had been needed and tried to think. _I don't know who Rena and Carapace are, but I don't think we need those powers. We need someone who can react fast and get to them without fail, we needed._ He thoughtand he felt drawn to something and picked it up, opening his eyes to see a red bead chocker in his hand.

"The Dragon Miraculous; that is bonded to Lonng and the weapon is the sword." Fu said as he looked at Adrien and gave him a small red box. Adrien smiled as he heard that, knowing that his ealier thought was just _who_ they needed.

"Thank you Master Fu, I know exactly who to ask for help." Adrien said as he left the room, leaving Fu to chuckle lightly.

"Master, is something wrong?" Wayzz asked as he floated toward Fu as he poured himself a cup of tea and calmly drank it.

"Just that I am happy that Chat was the person to come and ask for help, I think this is a good sign that one day soon all the Miraculous will have wielders before I go." Fu said as he looked at the box.

Kagami looked at the trees as they rose to the sky and scowled. _Where are those seeds, they haven't been any for a while, is the Akuma in combat with them._ She thought as she looked about, wondering what she should do. Her mother had taken the car and gone to a doctor's appointment and thankfully she had called her mother and she was alone. So far none of the seeds had landed in her yard and she was worried. "I guess I finally understand the saying 'The calm is the worst part'. I think all of Paris will know that after this." She muttered to herself as she looked upwards. She thought she saw something at the corner of her eyes and turned to see Chat Noir land on her houses wall and look around until he saw her.

Chat Noir landed in front of her and looked at her with a spark of relief in his eyes. "There you are, I was worried how I would find you Kagami."

"You were looking for me? What's wrong, shouldn't you be dealing with the Akuma?"

"Yeah, that's why I'm here. The Akuma created minions and she knows kendo. Every strike I did she parried and then she retreated and attacked us in waves. We need someone else to beat her, and that's why I'm here." Chat Noir said as he looked at her.

Kagami started to understand just why he was here and looked at him in shock as he handed over a red jewelry box. _This is…I can't believe…..wait._ Kagami went still as she picked out the two words of Chat's sentence that mattered to her and looked at him sharply.

"Where's the Akuma, is it at the Tuileries Garden?!" Kagami demanded causing Chat Noir to look at her and nod before Kagami started to curse.

"It's Belinda, it has to be!" Kagami said as she turned to dash towards the street when Chat grabbed her.

"Wait, you know who the Akuma is?!" Chat demanded as Kagami turned back.

"Her name's Belinda, she's one of my mom's students. She's always had this green thumb and she was looking into how she could add a few trees to the public parks, learned she needed to make a petition do that." Kagami said as she looked depressed as continued. "I was going to spend some time helping her out after school, but with the schools closed she must have gone early! I should have gone with and helped her, to hell with what mom and that stupid fender planned, and now one of my friend became and Akuma!"

"Don't be, you can still help her. Kagami Tsurugi, will you accept the Miracoulus? After the battle will you give it back and let us return this to its sleep?" Chat Noir asked as she looked down at the box and nodded at him. Opening the box a ball of light formed and from it a small figure appeared, it was red with four black horns on his forehead: a black horn on each side of his face, and red horns from the upper back of his head with black spirals and two golden eyes. On each of its cheeks was a whisker next to his mouth, two small black spikes on his lower back, and a long tail with three black tips at the end.

"Greetings, I am Longg." Longg said as he looked at her. "I grant my wielders the power to become water, wind or lightning."

Kagami looked from the Kwami to the Miraculous, a red bead chocker. She put it around her neck and looked at Chat Noir and Longg. "Can I really do this?"

Chat Noir put her hand on and smiled at her. "One thing I learned on this job, you can surprise yourself if you give it a chance."

Kagami looked at her friend and then at the Kwami. "Lonng, Bring the Storm!" She cried as Lonng was sucked into the Miraculous. As Kagami felt the power rush through her she brought her left arm across her face and her eyes were covered by a red mask with gold trim as her eyes sclera turns yellow and her irises' amber as two gold-tipped red horns sprout on both sides of her head. Her body gains a red skintight bodysuit with a coiling dragon on her right side and her arms from her elbow to her hands are black, with her feet black from her knees down. The coiled dragon tail ends at her chest where a circle symbol with markings of 3 colors - yellow on her right, white on top, and azure on her left. A sword formed that she grabbed and spun about before putting it into a scabbard on her back. She clenched her fists as she felt the power flow through her and looked at Chat Noir.

"This feels, incredible." She murmmred before she heard a light chuckle around her. _**Well hatchling that is how everyone of my weilders feel the first time they transform.**_Longg sent to her causing her to look around, trying to find him. Chat laughed at her and when she turned to look at him with a scowl he grinned at her.

"Yeah, when we transform we can hear our partners in our minds and they can hear our thoughts. And one more thing, don't mention the Kwami at all, after Volpina we all decided to use this as a safety net." Chat said causing Kagami to nodded. "And what do we call you?"

Kagami thought of Longg and smiled at Chat. " Call me Ryuko."

"What are you doing Dryad, you let Chat Noir got away and you let Queen Bee separate you from Ladybug!" Hawkmoth spat as he looked up at the window in his chamber as the shade from one of the nearby tower trees fell onto his mansion.

"_**I almost had them once before, once I find them and make a few changes to my strategy they'll be mine!"**_ Dryad sent back to him as he watched through her eyes as she sat on Serpent Tree as it carried her through the garden.

Hawkmoth merely stood and thought. _She's only the first time I activated someone's past life skills, to be honest when I gave her the powers I didn't think it would have such an effect together, at most she should have talked different but this. The fact that she's having such an easy time and two of them had to leave Queen Bee behind… fine, I'll give her some more time. _Hawkmoth thought before he spoke. "Very well Dryad I'll let you play this out, but I expect the Miraculous of at least one of them by nightfall. And the seeds you're launching all over Paris, stop until you've captured them."

"**As my Pateron wills, I will do so. I will have what you seek in your hands by daybreak tomorrow at the latest."** Dryad sent as Hawmoth closed the connection and turned to Nathalie who had come into the chamber holding her tablet.

"I just received a message from Adiren's bodyguard." She began before he could speak. "They were separated when the attack started and Adrien told him to get off the street, he said he'll find a place to wait it out."

Hawkmoth looked at her and nodded, at least that was going fine. After Stoneheart he had told Adrien if that ever happened he was to find a hiding place and not come out until the attack was over or he had to move. _**Master, I'm worried about this**_**.** Nooroo sent to him causing him to raise an eyebrow.

"What could be wrong Nooroo?" Hawkmoth asked as Nathalie looked at him as he conversed with his Kwami. _**I told you, this isn't how my abilities are meant to be used. The way you change their personalities combined with Past Teacher, I'm just worried the concurrent affect it might have.**_ Nooroo sent as Hawkmoth looked at the shade cast by the tower trees. **And there's the possibility for after affects, we've been lucky but I just know something beyond this kid's mana waking up will happen, I just know it. **Nooroo thought to himself as he tried to figure out what was bothering him about this.

"Something bothering him?" Nathalie asked as Hawkmoth stood there facing away from her.

"He's merely worried about aftershocks from using both alibies on this Akuma. But so far she seems to be performing as they normally do." He told her as he looked upwards. "Chat Noir left the battle and Queen Bee drew the focus away from Ladybug."

Nathalie nodded and looked down at her tablet and opened a program. "Shale I add anything to the list sir?"

Hawkmoth nodded and looked at the window. "Yes a raised platform. And see if you can get a bearing on which way he went when he left the park."

"Of course sir, but how will we handle the tress?" At her question he looked through the window and

"If she succeeds I will take back the power, I said I would give it to her but not that she will keep is." Hawkmoth said as he turned, scowling when he saw Nathalie's face. "What is it?

"Have we ever taken the power back, what happens to the effects of the Akuma?" Nathalie asked as Hawkmoth looked out at the trees and suddenly saw a flaw in his plans. _She won't like anything that would destroy the trees, perhaphs this was a mistake to use both abilities at the same time._ He thought as he looked at the window and didn't speak, but to Nathalie his silence was telling.

Back at the park Queen Bee dodged a blow form a Dancer and she gritted her teeth as she arrows from archers missed her by inches. She and Ladybug had split up, she did so to give Ladybug a chance to recharge and she had promised to meet back up at where they had entered the park. It had worked and most of the minions had followed her and she had gone on a tour of the new forest and seen that some of the trees were growing larger egg-like fruit that had something _moving in them_ as she leaped by. Whatever she was doing to the trees they had to finish it soon, this was starting to worry her. As she leaped to another branch something suddenly went two things went around her, pinning her left arm and locking her legs together as she fell to the ground. Looking down she saw two vines were wrapped around her, looking up she saw a Nymph Dancer swinging a vine around its head and five others around it, all of them armed with bows aim at her.

As she tried to pull the vine holding her arm against her body she looked at the Dancer's as they drew back their arrows._ This one might have me but I'll go down fighting!_ She thought closing her eyes before the sound of something flying by caused to look up as a human in black armor with bat like wings with a sword in his right hand landed before her.

"Ahhh, you must be Queen Bee yes? I am Moon Wing, at least that;s the name I choose, this thing doesn't come with an instruction manual." The newly introduced Moon Wing looked at her and gestured with his sword at her bonds.

"Yeah thanks for saving me Moon Wing." Queen Bee said as Moon Wing cut her free and put his sword into the earth and reached down a hand that she grabbed and he hauled her to her feet. _We saw the Akuma, so who's this joker? He doesn't' have a Miraculous, he would have mentioned it, I have to find out what he's about. _"Thanks for that. I'm wondering where you found your Miraculous though."

"No problem Queen, mind if I call you Queen? I found this hidden in an old statue, I broke it and picked it up with a small book next to it, it described how the old owner used it to fight against evil." Moon Wing said as he picked up his sword and looked around as Queen Bee looked about for any of the Akuma's minions. "My family moved to Paris and I saw the trees, I hit the new forest from the east and found you, I didn't believe the book until I transformed the first time."

Queen Bee looked at him and put all the skills she had learned from her father's political to work to keep what she was thinking off her face. "Come on Moon Wing, Ladybug, Chat and some help he went to get should be there waiting for us."

She jumped into the trees and moved towards the entrance she had used before, Moon Wing following, flying on his wings. _Good, she believes me. as soon as I can learn all I can about their artifacts the closer I am from conquering this city._ He thought as he flew between the trees.

Ladybug jumped down from the rooftop and leaned against the tree covering the subway entrance and sighed._**Don't be to guilty Marinette, Queen Bee did that before you could even speak.**_Tikki sent to her and she smiled a little as she nodded. _I know Tikki and I know I can only hope she got away._ She thought back and when she heard something in the trees from the direction of the part she smiled but got a neutral expression when she saw Queen Bee leading Moon Wing to her. "Queen Bee I knew you'd get away okay, who's your friend?"

Queen Bee looked over her shoulder at the black clad figure and turned to Ladybug with a smile while her eyes were the most serious she had ever seen. "He's a newbie that **found **his Miracoulus with only a diary of the previous wielder; can you believe how lucky he is to have found it that way? And he's called Moon Wing."

Ladybug went still as she heard this and nodded. "Yeah it's a lot different from our trainers decided to pass them on to us." She said as she looked at Moon Wing who nodded back at her.

"Yes I thought it was a, well I thought it was a story the owner had written since I founded it. When I heard about what was happening in Paris I decided to find out if it was true and well." He just shrugged and looked at them. "Sadly I haven't been able to figure out the power it grants me, the book was damaged. Besides the flight my transformation and my sword skills my parents thought I needed to know."

"We can talk later, with someone who can fly this might be easier. The largest tree hidden in there is the source of the seeds that rained down before. We have to stop her before she destroys all of Paris." Ladybug said as she looked at Moon Wing who smiled back, not seeing Queen Bee make a three with her right hand.

"Not the easy approach for the new guy then?" Moon Wing joked and Ladybug nodded, not at him but at Queen Bee. Queen Bee smiled and turning she saw Chat Noir and a strange girl in red jumping onto the street.

"Good you got back stray you sure took your time, was getting her to join the party that hard, did her trainer need convincing?" Queen Bee asked with a smirk as Chat laughed.

"Yeah sorry but it took a while to find them, but she said that Ryuko could join the party." Chat said causing his voice to carry and inform the others of Ryuko's name.

"Good thing you're back, this is Moon Wing, he learned to use his Miraculous from a damaged book he found with it. But this is bad, very bad." Queen Bee said as the heroes gathered around her. "While I lead the minions away from Ladybug to let her recover I saw plants with large fleshy egg like fruits, I think she's using the trees she planted to make more of those minions, and when their damaged badly they release a liquid that causes plants to grow like they were hypercharged."

Ladybug looked into the park and looked at the other around and steeled herself. "Then we have to split up. Queen Bee, take Moon Wing and Chat Noir and deal with the orchid you found. Once that's done head to the large tree, Ryuko and I'll fight our way to it and draw out Dryad, that tree can't fire again, it has to have been absorbing power for a larger shot. If it can make another tree like this, the world could be at risk."

"Got it my lady, Queenie and the new guy can handle it." Chat said as Queen Bee nodded. "You and Ryuko just handle yourself safely, and stay strong until we get there."

"Good luck you two, come on newbie!" Queen Bee said as she ran into the park, Chat and Moon Wing following after her.

Ladybug looked at Ryuko and smiled at her as she looked at Ladybug with a confused expression.

"I don't understand, did he not have a Miraculous?" Ryuko asked Ladybug as she looked after the departed heroes. "And the 'minions'?"

"Humanoid mobile plants armed with either a sword or a bow and arrows." Ladybug said as she put her hand on Ryuko's shoulders. "I know this is bad for your first time but I trust that Chat Noir made the right choice, both in Miraculous and who to wield it so believe in yourself."

"You don't know who he choose? I'm…" Ryuko began before Ladybug put a finger over her mouth.

"Your identity must remain secret from me; this is to keep all of us safe. Only you and Chat can know who you are until we can find a way to keep this from Hawkmoth if he gets one of us." Ladybug told her as Ryuko went to her chocker in shock. "No the Miraculous doesn't make us immune, it makes us resistant but since in the past the butterfly Miraculous was used on the wielders in the past. We have to move now; you can tell me what you can do as move."

Ryuko looked at Ladybug and nodded before the two of them dashed into the park. "Chat and I made a plan on the way over here, but my powers are to transform into Water, Wind and Lighting."

At the largest tree Dryad had both her arms on it as Serpent Tree and ten of her Dancers stood guard. She looked up at the tree and smiled. _Soon_ _the forest will spread for all over this world, that fool Hawkmoth thinks I'm wasting my time on those when this will allow me to win the war! War, what war? Against Atlantis of course, those Light scum. Wait Atlantis?_ She thought as she moved her hands away from the tree and looked shook her head as she stumbled, Serpent Tree moving fast to brace her and keep her up, she looked at it as it spit its tongue out and 'kissed' her and she laughed a little as her mind went back to 'normal'.

"I'm fine my protector, I'm fine. I can't remember what I was thinking about." She said as Sepent Tree moved back and she looked at the Nymph Dancers and noticed that they hadn't reacted to her distress. She scowled at them and looked upwards at the top of the tree, a wistful smile on her face. "Mindless dolls, but you will be more then that my dear, so much more."

A sudden shot of pain caused her to wince and stumbled and close her eyes, sending her perception away to where the pain had come from. She 'saw' Chat Noir, Queen Bee and a black armred male stranger with wings destroying her orchard. As the few Dancers she had there fought against the teens, she felt Chat's baton hit 'her' and fell against the tree. "They've found my orchard! And who's that?!" She roared as a light mask formed in front of her face.

"Dryad, let me see what you can see, what has happened!" Hawkmoth demanded as Dryad snarled before she flashed green. "AAARRRGGG!"

As the light mask flashed green Dryad started to laugh. "Did you really think I would be your severent for long, go and cower like the coward you are. This is the battle that will win the war, and I will win it!" Dryad sneered as her past life memories took over her as she sent mental commands to her creations to charge the orchard as Serpent Tree reared up and roared.

Dryad laughed and looked at her 'daughters and directed them to leave, before walking towards the river and smiling as she looked at the river as she cupped her hands and drank from it as Serpent Wood stuck its tongue into the water and it started to grow a leafy branch on its back. "I don't know how I was empowered or got here like this but I will make an orchard from which the force to take them down will come and whip clean the hated enemies of all life!"

As she moved back towards the largest tree she never noticed someone was watching her from under the water. Serpent wood stayed where it was but it moved back towards the edge of the clearing and didn't see a wind rusted the grass as it move away from the clearing.

Hawkmoth stumbled backwards and his transformation dropped, revealing Gabriel Agreste as Nathalie went to him as Nooroo hovered over him and looked down.

"I knew that there would be a side effect if we used both powers like that master, I just knew it!" Nooroo said as he floated there and Gabriel looked got up with Nathalie's help.

"Be silent." Gabriel demanded as he looked out the window and cursed himself. _I can't believe this, an Akuma could break my control and force my transformation to be canceled. She must be powering the Akuma on her own, that's interesting…that must have been what I felt when I used that power, that strange feeling when I transformed her. Whenever I've made an Akuma, I always felt that feeling, but I never tried it. Very interesting, with this could I use this so I can create multiple Akuma? I'll need to make sure I can trust the Akuma first. _ Gabriel grinned as he started to chuckle.

"Sir, did the Akuma break your control?" Nathalie asked as she looked at him and tried to understand just had given him such a joy.

"Nathalie I want you to go get some of Nooroo's food, now. Nooroo I think we might have two new weapons in place of one." Gabriel said as Nooroo looked at him, not understanding what he meant. Nathalie looked at him and left the room, after she left Gabriel looked out the window and kept laughing as he stood there and looked at the window. "This is interesting, once you recharge, I think I…no, Nooroo is there a way to take memories from someone, I think we need to prepare a publicity stunt."

"There are ways that I can **hide** memories, they would still remember unconsciously but they wouldn't concisely remember unless they try and do so." Nooroo finally said as he looked at Gabriel.

Gabriel smiled as he started to plan, he needed to put as much effort as one of his runway shows, everything had to be perfect but he would have to have the right and proper _interviews_ before he could do anything else. _This has possibilities that I could use. The perfect way to throw their scent off me, and maybe even the possibility to plan a smarter attack then Heroes Day; this time instead of a mass attack I could try and recruit a proper team._ He thought as he looked at the window and the towering trees. Nathalie came back into the room and opened a bag she was holding, Nooroo dived into it and started to eat the lettuce like he was starving.

"What was that before?" She asked Gabriel as she sat the bag down on a table as the other moths coverged onto the bag and started to eat with Nooroo._ I don't know how that thing can eat with them at the same time, another thing that always bothers me about it._ she thought as she looked at the bag as it moved about.

"Just looking at what might be an advantage that might win us the war; this battle was lost to us because of a traitor but let's see if the war can't be won by a mercenary." Gabriel said as he looked back at her. "Are you finished Nooroo? I don't want to know if they can tell if we're still active when she activates her reset."

Queen Bee threw her fan and it cut through the last of the strange egg like plants and looked around as Chat and Moon Wing destroyed the last of the Dancers and chuckled. "Think we'll be able to draw them in?" Before either of them could speak a scream of rage came multiple throats caused them to look around and then at each other and grinned.

"You know when I thought I would activate my Miracoulous and fight with you guys for the first time, it would be easier. Of course I trained at night, but this is something else, I mean fighting with all these things." Moon Wing said as he put his sword over his shoulder and grinned at the others, Chat and Queen Bee grinning back. "So do we fight them here or meet them halfway?"

"I say we fight our way towards that tree; we could make it look like we're the first strikers and trying to open up a way for Ladybug and the new girl, your thoughts?" Queen Bee asked as she looked at him, keeping a grin on her face to keep her thoughts from showing. _He's not working for Hawkmoth, that much is certain. So what's he after and how'd he transform?_ She thought as she looked at Moon Wing and saw the look Chat sent him over his shoulder. _**Don't worry Chloe, whoever he is we'll find out what he's after and we'll survive this, trust the others I think Chat, Ryouka, Plagg and Lonng have a plan.**_ Pollen sent to her and it took all Queen Bee had to keep from reacting.

"I'll hit them withChat on the ground, how about you handle anything that tries to hit us from the branches, my swooping strike doesn't work unless I'm above them and well, I have a sword." Moon Wing said as Queen Bee and Chat Noir tensed, wondering if this was what he was after.

"No, we take the high ground and force them to come at us." Chat said as they heard the roaring again and he jumped into the trees. _I can't tell her the plan as long as he's here, think Pollen will clue in Queenie that something's up Plagg?_ Chat thought as he looked down at the others. _**Bee girl's kinda sharp, she'll notice so just stay ready**_. Plagg sent as he looked at the so called 'Bat Miraculous holder' from within Chat Noir. "Trust me this is the best way to handle them!"

Queen Bee jumped into the trees as Moon Wing flew upwards and looked towards the forest and readied himself for the foes to attack them as Queen Bee and Chat Noir did the same thing. As the three of them readied themselves for battle Moon Wing never noticed that the two heroes shot each other a look both of them hopping that he wouldn't betray them. As the screams sounded again they looked towards it and saw fifteen of the Dancers charging towards them and went still when they couldn't see them until one looked upwards and saw them and screeched, alerting the others.

Ladybug sat hidden in the top of a tree and waited for Ryuko to come back from scouting in her wind form, hoping that the Akuma wouldn't sense her. The sound of wind caused her to look up and smile as Ryuko formed before her.

"She's just ahead; I got there before she felt the others attack, most of the things are gone besides the serpent." Ryuko reported to Ladybug as she got her bearings back and shook her head. "That is the _strangest _thing I have ever experienced. Shale we attack while she doesn't have many guards, she doing something with that canon tree. "

Ladybug looked at the forest and went over the plan and nodded to Ryuko. "I'll hit from the ground, you hit from the trees after a few minutes, go for her veil, that has the Akuma."

Ryuko looked down and then up at Ladybug and frowned. "I'm still not sure about this plan; I mean Chat and I made it but if there are anyone hiding here!" Ryuko said as she looked around and turned back to Ladybug when she put her hand on Ryuko's shoulder. _**The plan is sound child, if you only trust your comrades we will succeed.**_ Longg sent to her causing her smile a little.

"That's why you have to force the water into the river, that's one of the reasons you scouted ahead, and the tree and clearing is along the river right?" Ladybug asked as Ryuko nodded. "So let's go!"

Ladybug jumped down to the ground and looked up at Ryouka and nodded before dashing dashed towards Dryad with Ryouka following in the trees, hoping their plan would work.

Dryad screamed as she felt her creations die as she looked at the tree. _Those damned traitors, how dare pawns of those monsters fight so hard! They have no right, those scum have no honor chasing after the promise of losing their humanity so!_ She thought as she threw back her head and screamed. Serpent Wood purred and rubbed its head against her's and Dryad starched under its 'head' and sighed as she felt the shudder from the tree she was leaning against and smiled.

"Not having as easy time as you thought?" A voice called out causing her to turn and see Ladybug as Serpent Wood stared to encircle her as the five Dancers still in the clearing started to growl.

"What do you want, traitor? Come to ask for my surrender before your master's burn this place to the bedrock?" Dryad growled as Ladybug looked confused before looking at her.

"I don't have any masters, the Akuma is affecting you, let me cleanse it and help you!" Ladybug said as she looked at Dryad and saw the victim she was. _Tikki, do you know what she could mean?_ Ladybug thought as she tried to keep an eye on all the monsters moving towards her as she started to spin her yoyo. _**It's familiar, but I don't know.**_ Tikki sent as a strange feeling went through her. "You don't know who you are, please, let me help you, before anyone is hurt badly."

Dyrad looked confused for a minute before she stared at her with anger. "No, I know who I am, Atlantis will fall!" She screeched as the Dancers charged at Ladybug who threw her yoyo at the tree and pulled herself to it as a Dryad jumped after her as a figure jumped off a tree at the edge of the clearing and hit the ground revealing Ryuko.

"WATER DRAGON!" She cried as she collapsed into water and the water surged and magnified until the clearing was flooded and swept the Dancers and Serpent Wood away and they disappeared from sight.

Dryad looked at what had happened before she screamed as she formed two wooden short swords and charged at Ladybug who dodged and met the blows with her elbows as they fought, lashing out with her yoyo in a short blow hoping to hit the veil. "You will fall, you traitor to sentience, you who would become a machine! You and all like you will fall!"

Ladybug dodged left and right on the branch before she jumped down to the ground and jumped backwards as she Dryad leapt at her. _She's gone crazy, what did Hawkmoth do to her Tikki, Tikki!_ Marinette thought as she felt Tikki's confusion. _**I'm sorry Marinette; this is beyond anything I've ever seen. I don't know, we can only hope she'll be okay once we get the Akuma.**_Tikki sent as she watched from Ladybug's eyes.

Chat leapt from tree to tree as he led the way towards the giant tree as Queen Bee and Moon Wing flew above them. After the last of the Dancers had been dealt with they had charge the tree, Chat moving ahead of them as he tried to hope that the plan worked.

"Slow down you mangy stray, we've got to stay together!" Queen Bee cried out as they moved through the forest.

"We need to get there, we have to help them! If there are more of those orchards then we have to get the Akuma before they get into the city!" Chat called back to her as he jumped to the next tree and went still when he landed as he heard a rumble in the distance. As Queen Bee landed next to him they watched as a flood rushed towards them until the water condensed into Ryuko as Serpent Wood reared over her and prepared to bit her in two as three wounded Dancers got back to their feet. " No Cataclysm!"

Chat shot straight at Serpent Wood and slammed his hand against the wooden serpent and it gave off a screech as it disintegrated and turned into a broken branch before it to was destroyed. Before the Dancers could react Queen Bee jumped and used her fan to cut the head off one of them as Moon Wing sliced one in two as before Chat attack the last one as it raised as blade to strike at Ryuko as she got her self under control.

"So you all finished those fruit you went to get?" Ryuko asked as she got back to her feet.

"Yeah, what about you, are you timing out?" Queen Bee asked as she looked around, hoping to see anything and noticed that Ryuko's chest only had the yellow portion remained.

"No, I'm good for a bit more time, but come on Ladybug's alone!" Ryuko exclaimed as she dashed towards the clearing, and within seconds the others followed, her and Chat both hoping that she hadn't been overwhelmed by the Dancers.

Ladybug leapt backwards, moving closer to the river, hoping that maybe Ryuko was still there in water form and would she would be able help her. _What is wrong with her, no Akuma has ever acted so weird, is Hawkmoth even controlling her anymore?_ Ladybug thought as she dodged Dryad's blows.

"TRAITOR, WHORE!" Dryad screeched as she slashed out with her swords as she tried to hit Ladybug, while Ladybug swung out with her yoyo and tried to hit Dryad's veil. Dryad stopped and grinned evilly, Ladybug had a few seconds to wonder before something slammed into her and pushed her to the ground. Twisting her head she saw a Nymph Dancer had her pinned as she tried to struggle to her feat she heard Dryad cackle as she walked towards Ladybug. "Have a few of my dear creations hide nearby and act like I've lost my mind, a wonderful strategy to use one on one."

Ladybug struggled as she tried to get free, trying to get the Dancer off her back as Dryad walked closer when suddenly two blasts of water came from the river and one tore through the Dancer and the other one watching her. Ladybug rolled away and held her yoyo and grimaced and threw it upwards. "LUCKY CHARM!" A red sphere formed and from it dropped a red rope with weights on both ends. Looking at it as it glow red saw looked around the clearing and saw a branch on a tree glow red and then the from where she had come from. Grabbing the rope she ran towards the.

"YOU WON'T GET AWAY FROM ME!" Dryad screamed as she followed Ladybug. Swining the bolo Ladybug threw it around the branch and jumped, the bolo pupping her into a circle and when Dryad passed under her she swung around and kicked her farther ahead. Dryad snarled and got to her feet when suddenly she went still as Queen Bee appeared behind her, her fan extended and a smirk on her lips as the others appeared.

"The Veil, it's in the veil!" Ladybug cried out, prompting Moon Wing to tear the veil from Dryad and cut it in two, the Akuma flying free and Belinda falling to the ground unconscious. Ladybug spun her yoyo and caught it and brought her yoyo back to her. "No more evil for you little Akuma!" she said as her yoyo opened and a white moth flew out.

She looked at the others and smiled at what she saw. Queen Bee had dropped and was checking Belinda's pulse with Chat Noir guarding her with Moon Wing and Ryuko on the outskirts of the group looking for anything that might come at them. "Great job Ryuko, especially when you shot those Dancers off me by blasting them while you were in the river!"

Ryuko looked at the others and turned to Ladybug with a confused look. "I was only able to carry all those things away and only until my mind started to fall apart and I had to turn back, if the others hadn't been there to save me!" Ryuko said causing Ladybug to turn and look at the river in confusion before turning back to her team, all of them having worried looks on their faces.

Ladybug looked at the river, wondering what had happened but shook her head and looked at Belinda as she started to move. "Latter, let's not let her see what she did, together?" Ladybug asked as she got the bolo and everyone put their hands under hers and they threw it upwards.

"Miraculous Ladybug!" They called before swarms of pink ladybugs that flew around the tower trees and the cannon trees, causing them to disappear and the canon tree to turn back to normal before the swarm flew into Paris.

Nino and Ayla looked up as a light came from the entrance as the roots blocking it disappeared and hugged each other, smiles on their faces. "Think I'll be able to find Lila or Alix after all this Nino?" Alya asked only for Nino to sigh and shake his head.

Lila hid a scowl as the shop she and the others had been hiding as the tree blocking the door disappeared as the ladybugs flew past as people started to cheer._ So the Akuma failed, I hope you learned something at least Hawkmoth. Any way you can get stronger is just another way for my goals to become that much closer to success. _Lila thought before looking at the others. "Oh, isn't it great that they won again guys?"

Hawkmoth looked up as sunlight came through the window and looked at Nathalie as she stood there waiting. "So they won again and they might not know I lost control, good. Wings Fall." As the transformation dropped Nooroo appeared and dropped a little until Gabriel caught him and looked down at him. "Are you all right Nooroo, I can't have you falling ill."

"I'm fine master that was just something I've never done when I make Akuma." Nooroo said as he looked at Gabriel as Nathalie looked on and he shivered as he floated back into the air.

"So what did this prove sir?" Nathalie asked as she watched Gabriel grin.

"For one how to make Akuma's power themselves, for two it's possible to transform twice in one day. I didn't try and send out another Akuma but let's wait until we can make a plan that might work." Gabriel said as he walked out of the room, Nathalie following behind him as Nooroo landed on his shoulder as they got onto the evaluator and it started up. "Nathalie hold my calls for an hour, I have some decryptions to work on, and make sure once Adrien comes out of hiding that that he makes it home."

Nathalie looked at him as they reached the office and she walked out of the room, tiping away on her tablet and sent a messeage to the Gorilla before sitting down outside the room at the desk in the front hall and directed all calls to Gabriel to her, a sigh escaping her as she worked.

The butterflies flew about the clearing and created a piece of paper on a clipboard and disappeared as Belinda start to move and wakeup. "What happened?" Belinda asked as she came to and looked around, her heart dropping when she saw the heroes. "I was an Akuma, wasn't I?"

"Yeah, you were." Ladybug said as she helped her back to her feet.

"You shot giant seeds that grew into plants all over Paris, the roots might have kept people inside but you didn't attack anyone beyond this." Chat said and looked at her. "What happened to cause it?"

Belinda tried to remember as the heroes looked on and suddenly had a dear in the headlights look. "I had this petition to plant more trees and these three girls came up. They started to talk about unfeminine I was and they grabbed me, burnt my petition and destroyed my bonsai while they laughed about it. I grabbed it and ran away here and then….."

Chat scowled as he shot a look at Ryuko who gritted her teeth as she looked everywhere but at Belinda as Moon Wing snorted.

"Take it from me lass, people like that are just out to make themselves feel better." Moon Wing said as he looked into the skies and looked at the other _heroes_. "It's been fun everyone but I have to go, see you all next time."

Moon Wing jumped into the air and flew away, Chat Noir caught Ladybug's eye and flashed a two before looking away when she nodded.

"We have to move before Ryuko times out, stay sharp kid, it can only get better from here." Chat Noir said as he and Ryuko moved away and jumped to a building, leaving Queen Bee and Ladybug with Belinda.

"And I need to get back to my friends, good luck with that petition!" Queen Bee called out as she dashed after them before Ladybug swung her yoyo and looked at Belinda.

"Like she said, good luck." Ladybug said before she flew away, Belinda stayed where she was before taking a step towards the Garden's entrance before stopping and sighing as she started to walk towards the tree.

A few minutes away and halfway to Kagami's house Ryuko and Chat Noir dropped into a blind Alley and Ryuko looked at Chat Noir. "Clear Skies." As her transformation dropped she looked at Longg and smiled at him. "Thank you for letting me help my friend Longg, I hope I was able to bring honor like your previous holders have."

Longg looked at her and smiled. _Something about her just felt so, familiar, so right I can't. I have to talk to the others about this, and why those things brought the same feeling._ Longg thought as he looked at her and did a back flip to defuse some of his tension and back feelings about leaving her. "You did perfectly lady Tsurugi, I hope that we can work together in the future."

Kagami smiled at him and took off the Miraculous and hand it to Chat Noir who put it into its box and looked at her as Longg disappeared as the box closed. "You did great Kagami, really great. If we need you again, I'll be back." Chat said as he vaulted away, Kagim smiling and walking back towards her home, hoping to get back before her mom did.

Chat leapt through the air and smiled as he did, happy beyond words that his choice had been right. _I knew that she was the right choice Plagg, I just knew it! Still I wonder just what his deal was, how and what._ Chat thought as he landed and dashed across the roof. _**Yeah you did good for your first choice kid, but really I think you should talk to the others about him. I mean last I checked there wasn't a bat Miraculous so I don't know anything beyond that.**_Plagg sent as he stewed in his memories. **Could it be them, no their all dead or in prisons so dark that they can't see the light.** Plagg thought as Chat Noir moved over the rooftops of Paris as he reached his destination, a nondescript building three miles from Notre Dame where Ladybug waited. As he landed she turned and smiled at him when she saw the bow in his hand before he handed it over to her.

"Great job on choosing who to give the Miraculous to kitty." Ladybug said as Chat grinned back.

"You should trust me M'Lady, and maybe give this cat a date once in a while?" Chat asked causing Ladybug to sigh and Chat's grin to fall as he sighed. "I know, we can't know who the others are until Hawkmoth is defeated."

"Yeah, and we'll meet up at the third tonight before patrol, we need to talk. I'll get this to Master and I'll see you and Bee tonight." Ladybug said as she paused and looked back at him with a conflicted expression before she swung away into Paris, Chat stayed where he was before moving in the opposite direction, hoping to find a place to signal the Gorilla.

"I'm getting through to her Plagg, I can feel it!" He said as he leapt through the air as he felt Plagg snicker. _**Yeah, yeah lover boy, I hear you. **_Plagg sent as he snickered. W**hen those two figure out who their crushes are, it's gonna be good, even better then cheese.** Plagg thought as Chat Noir speed over Paris.

Belinda looked at the tree that she had been seating against before she had been taken by the Akuma. She had stayed here to find her dead bonsai plant and put to rest that part of her recent _tantrum_ and she had been looking for a good five minutes before sighing. "Maybe I destroyed it while that thing was controlling me."

As she was about to turn and walk home she stopped and looked at a rock that _called_ to her in some way. Walking to it she moved it and looking down she saw a small branch that looked like it was broken off from her bonsai. Picking it up she somehow _knew_ that it was still alive and that she could save it if she used some rootstock and planted it into the right pot. As she ran off a humanoid figure with wings that moved out from behind the tree and took flight and followed her, but both of them never noticed a figure break the water of the river and look at the second figure as it flew away.

Dryad/ Abilities= Control and grow plants [past life abilities to modify plants and see through modified- and Serpent Tree] / Object bandana = Veil/ Description / girl with pale green skin sitting on a branch. She was wearing a green bodysuit at hugged her body under a jade dress with a green transparent veil covering the top of the head leaving only her jade green lips bare.

Minion/ Serpent Tree / large tree limb moved to raised itself above her and the end looking at them opened to reveal a serpent like face with two jade wood fangs and two jade colored seeds as eyes, the open wood forming a cobra like hood

Nymph Dancer; feminine looking humanoids with bark for skin and ivy for hair/ Weapons/ Bows[pinecone arrows] or Swords in place of hands

Nymph Princess; Wooden figure with insect wings made of large single leaves wearing a dress of green spun out of moss, fangs to take mana from people/ Active watching over

Caline looked at her phone and sighed as she saw the Ladyblog report victory over the Akuma. When the seeds had started to fly through the air she and Max had hidden in the school and had been trapped within by the roots. _Thankfully the attack happened after Max had looked over the damages and the time we spent hiding had given him time to write up a report. Still could he be right, but how could it have happened?_ She thought as she looked at Max as they moved towards the locker room on the first floor and frowned as she saw him looking around. "All you all right Max, did you get everything you needed?"

Max nodded at Ms. Bustier as he they entered the locker room and he moved towards his own and opened it, revealing the custom computer he had put in it. As Markov flew out of his bag he activated it and turned towards her. "Just a few more things to double check Ms. Bustier, I just need to look over my own system and download a few extra bits of data and we'll be able to leave." Max said as his system started up and he called up the information he wanted. As his fingers danced over the keyboard he frowned. _I was right; the data shows that the fire started WITHIN the school itself in one of the underground storage rooms, but how? The motion sensors within the building, and that's where the motion detectors I set up started to detect people running out onto the first floor, but where'd they come from?_ He thought as he looked over the data, trying to find anything that might tell him how it was possible. He was so caught up in the data that he never noticed Caline

"Max are you almost done? Max? Max!" Caline called out and when Max twitched and turned to face her she saw she had startled him

"I'm fine Ms. Bustier, it's just the data I don't understand this. It makes no sense, I just." He sighed and looked at her and shook his head as he put a flash drive into his system. "I only hope that the police will take my report seriously and that it helps them. Done, we can go now."

"Max, what about the girl, shouldn't we do something? And I think we should ask her how she got into the school wearing what she is." Markov said as he floated infront of Max and Caline. Max looked at Caline who looked back at Max with a confused expression.

"What girl? Markov, are your files okay, you didn't get a virus in your visual system the last time you went on the web have you." Max asked as he looked at his friend as he flew through the air and hooved above a point in the locker room. _I know the firewall program I set up for him and the anti-viral are both functioning normally, is it possible?_ Max thought as he looked at the space below Markov and tried to see if he could see anything as Ms. Bustier.

"The girl right under me, can't you see her?" Markov asked as he hovered and looked at Max and Ms. Bustier. _Based on interaction with them I would calculate that there is a better than 90% chance that they really can't see her but how can I? What could be behind this, logic would dictate that something she has is behind this, the cloak then. _Markov processed before he flew down and grabbed the cloak before flying back up.

Max's mouth dropped open as he saw Markov fly downward and then grabbed at air, when he flew upwards his claw had grabbed something. As he moved a body appeared from nowhere and he and Caline stared in shock as Markov flew to Max and dropped a cloak that he grabbed as it fell.

Max stared at the figure that was revealed. A girl his age in a purplish blue bodysuit with blue tinted skin had been under the cloak Markov had pulled removed. Her hair was pink, short and spiky and she looked exhausted as she slumped against the wall with her eyes closed. Max looked at Ms. Bustier who looked at the girl with complete confusion before he looked down at what he was holding and noticed it had circuitry all over it and shimmered as he held it. "Who the hell is she, what is this?"

They never noticed that the girl had woken up and kept her eyes closed as she tried to gather her wits._ Who are they, they aren't the guards of the old realm, they would have banished me already…civilians then._ She thought as she tried to get up and defend herself.

Caline just looked at her and paled as she saw a small puddle of blood by the girl's right side. "That doesn't matter; we have to get her to a hospital!" She said as she reached for the girl who reacted by lunging to the side away from them. "She's awake?! Please we don't mean any harm, please let us help you." Caline said softly with her hands up, trying to calm her down.

"No hospital!" The girl gasped out as she tried to get up and dropped to the ground as she started to heaver and gasp as she tried to get to her feet. _Of course he poisoned everything he gave me to eat, I'm so stupid! He's the Poison Lord of the Tyrants, that's what he does!_ She thought as she tried to get to her feet.

Max watched the girl as she tried to move, revealing she had purple eyes that took his breath away for a second before he dropped the cloak and grabbed her arm and moved her against the wall, seeing a look of relief in her eyes as she.

"Thank you." She said as she looked at the people before stopping on Markov as he hovered there. "Who would design a drone like that, it has no purpose or weapons at all."

"I exist, that I my purpose madam, what's yours?" Markov said as he hovered and looked at her, causing her to gasp at his reply.

"He's self-aware? Who made you little one, I…my family has been trying to make a mind like your for centuries." The girl said causing Max to look at Caline who had missed the enormity of what she had just said and looked at her as Markov hovered by her.

"I made him and are you okay, you're bleeding and I think your part of the group that caused the fire last night." Max said as he looked at her and fought a blush down as she turned to look at him and he saw she had purple eyes.

"Last night? Of course, that makes sense. He would have used something like that to transfer me." She muttered as she tried to stay awake and felt her head spin as she fell against the wall. Max grabbed her and steadied her prompting her to smile at him, causing Max's heart to beat a bit. "Sorry about that."

"No trouble, but are you okay?" Max asked as the girl put her hands on the wall and started to breath heavily.

"Side effect from a long acting poison my captors gave me before I escaped. I'll be fine once I have a few minutes to rest." The girl said

Caline looked on as the girl and Max talked and tried to figure out what she could do, how could she help her? _She's not an Akuma, but she's not a normal human but she's still a child, at least I think she is. I should call someone but can I really put someone in danger?_ She took a deep breath and made a decision. "Markov, give her back her cloak. Miss, if you can stay awake I can get you to my car and a safe place, Max I need you and Markov to come with us to help her into my car."

Max nodded as he handed over the cloak and the girl smiled and nodded at them. "Thank you, all of you. I can't thank you enough and oh, my name is Miya Ocealalis."

Marinette had dropped her transformation and put the box into her bag and ran out of the alley back onto the streets of Paris, looking about with a small smile as the city went back to normal as the people went out of hiding. _No matter what Hawkmoth throws at us, we can always bounce back._ She thought as finally reached the street that had Master Fu's business.

"Master Fu, are you okay?" She called out as she entered his building and moved into his office. Fu looked up and smiled at her as he put down the phone and pressed a button, turning off his store's sign.

"Ahhh Marinette there you are. Come in my dear, let us sit for a bit, you can of course spend a little time talking with me for a bit?" He asked as he moved into his main room/ office and Marinette followed him in, closing the door as Tikki floated out of her purse. "That was a good thing, that Chat Noir was the one who choose the new holder."

"The lucky charm showed that we needed to get a new hero into the fight and he was the fastest." Marinette said as she sat down before Fu and handed over the Dragon Miraculous. Fu sat down and accepted it as Wyazz floated over his shoulder and smiled at her.

"Yes, still I'm curious, how did you feel about who Chat choose to help you all?" Fu asked as he waited for her to replay only for Marinette to shake her head.

"I don't know who he choose, he gave me the back Miraculous himself." Marinette said as Fu ahhed and looked at her.

"And you're okay with this, not knowing?" Fu asked with a neutral look. Marinette frowned for a few seconds, going over just what he could mean but after a while she nodded at him.

"Queen Bee and Chat Noir are my partners, I trust them completely. If Chat Noir only knows who Ryuko is then I'm fine with that, do you want to know Master Fu, did we do something wrong?" Marinette asked as she felt a spike of panic before Fu shook his head.

"No my dear, I will talk to Chat Noir but you did nothing wrong, but I am worried about how Hawkmoth was able to do this." Master Fu said as he looked outside and saw the people come out of hiding as Paris came back to life. "This was the strongest and largest attack yet and it was one that will have the most after affects."

Marinette looked at him and wondered what he meant while he smiled at her. _The biggest attack yet? But the flood alone and when it froze… he means how it rained from above, everyone will be scared about the future attacks. _She thought as she looked at Fu as he sipped his tea. "The fear, that's what you mean master, this is part of his plan isn't it?"

"I don't know, but I think he did something different this time. This is terrible, and the long term affect if a single minion got away I don't know what they will evolve into." Fu said confusing Marinette before he continued. "The order didn't know that was possible, but given what happened yesterday to you all…."

"Oh Chat didn't tell you, we lied about that." Marinette interrupted him and caused him to stare at her.

"What do you mean you all lied?! Why did you lie?" Fu asked as he stared at her.

"It was Creature related Master Fu, we were taught to summon and forced what was behind it back across the Veil." Marinette said as Fu stared at her in shock and growing horror.

"A Creature, the Veil? But what kind of creature…." Fu began before Tikki interrupted.

"It knew alchemy, that's how it made the spiders, at least that what I think. It was also part spider strangly enough." Tikki said as she floated from Marinette's bag. "We kwami made the decision to hold the truth, we've been lucky one of their Order never came here since this started."

Fu looked at Marinette and when she didn't react meant that Tikki had told her about the Duel Masters,

"There's something else master, Queen Bee and I split up while Chat was gone and she was saved by someone who said he found a Miraculous hiding in a statue, and his transformation gave him armor, a sword and bat like wings that _worked_." Marinette said causing Fu to stare at her in shock and worry.

"That is…interesting. About the spiders that you fought underground, where were you when they attacked?" Fu asked as thoughts ran through his mind, hoping he was wrong.

"We had fallen down to the third level, and then we came to this place our guide called 'The Base', a kind of valley with a natural river. Funny think it reminds me of an old song my nonna Gina used to sing to me." Marinette said as she closed her eyes, never noticing Fu's eyes going wide at Gina's name.

"So then it was most likely a Darkness Creature, a Dark Lord then. But what could it have been after, and how did it get here, the Realm….." Fu muttered to himself as he looked at his tea cup as he tried to get his breathing under control and not let Marinette notice his reaction. "As for these new comer, I…._remember_ a few groups in my past who had abilities like that. let me consult my records and I'll be able to tell you for sure."

"Good day then Master Fu, I'll see you later then." Marinette said as she got up and Fu walked her to his door, smiling as he opened it. As soon as she left and he closed it he hastily cast a spell and started to scream as he threw his arms up. Wayzz looked at him and sighed as he shook his head.

"Calm down Master, this isn't that bad." Wayzz said as Fu started to pant as he finally stopped ranting.

"Not that bad, she's _Gina's _granddaughter! Oh that woman, when she gets a hold of me, that's not even thinking about what Roland will do to me!" Fu said as Wayzz floated there and looked at Fu.

"You had to know there was a chance with her name Master." Wayzz said reproachfully as Fu blew some air out of his mouth.

"I had hoped that it was a coincidence, but really the chances were just too high for them to be related, or so I hoped." Fu said as he slid down his door and as he calmed down.

"It's not that bad, they wouldn't really….okay they would." Wayzz said when Fu shot a glare at him. "But think about what they'll do if you hide it."

Fu shivered as he thought about what they would do to him and sighed. "Then there's this new 'Hero', I know I've heard about something like this before but where, the war no but where have could it have been?"

"I will ask the others what they know, maybe one of them and their holder fought against someone who could form armor, you try and call them Master." Wayzz said before he shot into the gramophone leaving Fu alone as he looked at his phone before sighing and turning his store's sign back on.

Belinda sighed as she finished joining the bonsai root stock to the remains she had found and planting it into a new pot. "That was hard, I'm lucky I knew what to use, but how did I? _At least I was able to save this at the end. Still I wonder why I knew it was under that stone? And what is this head ache I'm feeling? _She thought as she looked around her room, sighing as she looked at the nature posters as she walked towards her desk across from her bed. "So that was what being and Akuma was like, Auroa and Kagami never mentioned headaches."

As she sat down she sighed as she looked at the petition that had been restored after the Miraculous Cure and repaired Paris. She shuddered as she remembered seeing all those large trees 'she' had caused to happen and shook her head. _I think I'll need to wait for the weekend before I can set up my stand again, and this time I'll wait until I can have someone to help me._ She thought before her phone and noticed that she had a chat request.

Thunder-Maiden; Tell me that it wasn't you.

Tree-Crafter; It was me.

Thunder-Maiden; Well, welcome to the 'Akuma Club' then, and who was it

Belinda was about to reply when a notifaction that 'Sword-Girl had joined the chat

Sword-Girl; I'm here and saw your answer, what happened and who do we hurt.

It was three girls, they were wearing the uniform of your school and two of them held me while the third destroyed my petition and then walked off for a 'saloon day', what happened I thought your school wasn't hit.

Sword-Girl; They thought what happened at Francis was a part of terrorist attack, so their closed for the next few days. And I'm not surprised about how they acted to tell you the truth, they have…..expectations how girls should act and how to use peer pressure.

Tree-Crafter; You've never told us about that!

Thunder-Maiden; Yeah what the hell, are you okay going to that place if it's like that!

Sword-Girl; I say never hesitate, but I was hesitant to do anything about it. I'm talking to my mom about transferring to your school so surprised?

Not just because about what the students at your old place are like, I know how stubborn you are

Belinda wondered what to say when she saw that 'Rain-girl' has joined the chat

Rain-girl; I just was able to get away from my parents and saw the messages; Tree are you okay, and was your petition remade when it was over?

Tree-Crafter; I'm fine Rainy and it did, and I think I'll not do it until the weekend, if some of you won't mind joining me?

Sword-Girl; I'll be there, if they come again I'll show them my blade and I'll tell a friend about it, he'll probably be glad to sign.

Rain-girl; I'll be there for you, just call me when if my job doesn't need me and I'll sign it to.

Thunder-Maiden; Same as Rain, I'll be there to help you

Belinda put a hand to her head as it started to throb. "Do I need medicine or something? I need to ask those two if this is part of the Akuma thing." She muttered before typing on her phone.

Tree-Crafter; Thanks, but I got to ask you two: when you were cured, did you two have a headache afterwards?

Sword-Girl; No, I didn't what about you Thunder?

Thunder-Maiden; Same here, but maybe it's because the Akuma have just seemed, stronger lately you know?

Tree-Crafter; you think so too, I thought it was just me!

"Belinda, supper!" A voice called from within the house. Belinda smiled as the scents of dinner called her, time to relax and have a good meal with the family.

Tree-Crafter; Got to go girls, supper text to you all later.

As Belinda signed off and walked out of her room she never noticed a shadow pass her window and a shadowed figure land on the walls of her house and look in her window for a few seconds until the bonsai Belinda had replanted _moved. _The small tree, the top opened and releave a snake like head with a horn on its nose and it looked at the figure against the window for a few seconds before its camouflage closed up and the figure nodded its head before jumping off the window and flew away on her wings into the darkening sky, looking for a place to hide.

It flew through Paris until it reached an abandoned apartment near the redlight district and looked it over before flying into a room on the top floor in the back through a hole in the building's wall. It looked over the area behind it and saw a forest and overgrown garden, the buildings forming the square had the look of fire damage and having been left to the elements, a few shadows moving here and there, animals or people with nowhere else to go. The figure looked down at the garden and saw a vine that went up the building and into the room. Walking to it the figure put a green glowing hand on it and the vine started to glow as a large flowing fruit grew on it. A crow flew towards the flower and picked at it before the flower lunged at it and ate it, the vine near the figure growing fleshy looking small fruits as the figure walked deeper into the building.


End file.
